


Healing light

by Luvkyloreylo



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Badass Rey, Character Death, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Cruelty, Dark Rey, Dominance, Dominant Kylo Ren, Dream Sex, Eventual Kylo Ren/Rey, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Ghost(s), Force Ghosts, Force-Sensitive Padmé Amidala, Forced Prostitution, Forgiveness, Friendship/Love, Healing, Hux is Not Nice, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Jedi Ben Solo, Kylo Ren Angst, Kylo Ren Redemption, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Not Related, Marriage, Memory Alteration, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Multi, Nonverbal Communication, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Pregnancy, Protective Finn, Repressed Memories, Rey/Kylo Ren Fluff, Slow Burn Rey/Kylo Ren, Submission, Touch-Starved, True Love, Unrequited Love, Virgin Kylo Ren, Virgin Rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-04-03 15:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 93
Words: 38,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13999305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luvkyloreylo/pseuds/Luvkyloreylo
Summary: --------COMPLETE-------**** What if they knew eachother as children....my thoughts... Reylo/Hux *****She watched the ship hit the atmosphere...watched it descend in a womb of fire and smoke...watched it crash screaming to the beach...her mother yelling  to her..."Rey come back ! We don't  know who that is, it could be anyone !" But Rey felt a pull of a heartbeat within the ship, her little  heart beat with it's  rhythm. The hatch blew away and a boy stumbled  out, he didn't  wander far before his bleeding  body gave out thudding into the white sand. His blood staining it, she closed in to exam this sight. Black raven hair and heavy eyes were caked with sweat and the red. "Mommy, i can heal him and then we can go hide, but i know he is not going to hurt me." Small hands hovering above his crumpled form, Rey willed every scratch and the internal damage to thread together, willed him to rest so his  body could heal. Then ran to her mother's  arms to return to their home.





	1. Beating together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ****(((Bare with me, this is my first fanfiction work. I respect all the creative things I've read and enjoyed, but I had a whole world of my own that I am excited to explore. I appreciate all the input and kudos. Y'all are amazing !!! I HAD to do something until next year when the new and 3rd flick is finally released... lol...! ;) ***)))

Noone is safe while darkness envelops the universe, not a thousand years ago, not now, not ever...

Rey's mother tried to hide her from the cosmos...the stars sent him anyway...

"mommy, why did you make me leave, he was just a kid too, I felt no bad things in his heart, he was just scared and hurt".

"Rey, I understand, but your power keeps increasing and someday the shielding won't work...the bad people will feel you and take you from me for that power."

Rey saw her worry, felt it like waves, her mother told her the force gave Rey to her as an answer to her prayers....but that the gift was a danger as well. Powerful evil would love to use her for their own gains. They would hide until they couldn't, they would live however they could until the protection wore off, because even now Rey's increasing radiance chipped away at the edges of spell. Her mother had no power, Ralinia had only her love to guard her treasure. Her fear of discovery haunted them from the moment she felt the first flutter of life in her belly, and every moment since. Rey spoke to her mind from the womb, skipped crawling to run through the tall grass and sand, moved the ocean waves to her own delight, and heard the music of every living thing on their island. At 5 she was such a beautiful kind soul, she calmed and sent soothing love to her mother, who smiled and hugged her tight.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, we can watch the beach and if no other ships come to fetch the boy, we will get him and bring him here. "

Rey grinned, she wanted to look in the boy's eyes and see who he was, where he came from, and where he will go.


	2. Watching over you

...watching over the boy on the beach, his gangly form didn't move right away, no ships landed, the sound of peaceful waves hitting the beach was all they heard.

He painfully sat up, looking around, confused but relieved, ...stumbled to the waters edge and washed himself best he could. Rey thought he was angelic, sensing no mallace or evil...there was a darkness buried in his head but it wasn't his...someone squatted in his brain.

She wasn't sure if he knew that or not. He hadn't noticed her.

She closed her eyes a moment, sending peace and calming affection into his body hoping if he was feeling alone that it would help. Innocent well wishes from a kind heart.

He swallowed a deep breath, looking around more confused. Standing, the boy, no young man traced every inch of his surroundings, ...his ship was destroyed, there would be no tracing him here. And she watched...she saw him pecking around for scraps that might be useful, ...he pressed his hand to his head. Then she felt his grief, it was a waterfall of pain, fire, darkness, smoke, screams, his soul shuddered at the memory. He had left a horrible place or event behind, he had done something terrible, she felt his self-loathing.

Again she sent calming into him, this time his eyes snapped in her direction. She wasn't scared of him, she saw his future, she saw their hands linked, bigger hands than now, eyes focussing on a purple horizon. He worked his way toward her hiding place, she stepped out from behind the green and smiled at him.

"Hello Ben!" Rey squeaked. ...his stunned silence speaking volumes.


	3. She knew

Ben was silent, he had to make himself remember to breathe. Had this nobody in the middle of nowhere, whom he had never met just greeted him with his name?

She was just a small child, a slip of a thing, it was ridiculous. But there she was, unafraid, grinning at him like a friend. So strange, but adorable too, he chuckled to himself. Freckled face, bare feet, chestnut hair waving in the ocean breeze, and truly the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen. Golden and emerald, hazel orbs, ...he realized this was where those feelings came from moments ago....the calming, the peace, but why. He had just escaped pure hell and almost died in the crash, ...to wake up to a pretty much healed body and her. What the hell?

"How do you know my name?" He asked.

"You told me," she replied.

"I was unconscious, I haven't spoken to you until now," he asked.

Rey smiled a beaming expression, giggling, "your force told me, it told me your name and how to wash the pain away".

Ben was stunned again, so she had the force at some level maybe, crazy circumstance. He just wasn't prepared for the direction his life had taken lately.

She approached him and grabbed his hand, " I don't like the man in your head so he isn't allowed there for a while, but come, mommy said I can feed you."

He could feel the absence of the dark voice in his head, it was soothing but empty, he let her lead him away from the beach.


	4. Share a meal

Her mother kissed her cheek as she came in the door, she glanced up warily at the boy. He had let Rey lead him there without protest, she gripped his hand still.

"My daughter saved you after that ship crashed, noone else has followed you it seems."her mother explained. "I didn't want her to, but she isn't a child you argue with, her heart is too stubborn. " 

"my name is Ralinia, hers is Rey, what are you running from? Who are you child ?"

...Ben saw her worry, her eyes were full of questions, her love radiated for her daughter.

"I am Ben, I was running from a fight, my ship was hit, the damage made my jump fail and brought me way off course to this place. I won't hurt you or your daughter, i don't think i could if I wanted to, she sees right into me, she is powerful."

He gazes at the beautiful girl. He still couldn't understand why she helped him or how she could have enough power to silence Snoke in his mind. Snoke had been whispering in his mind since he could remember, he had turned away from his family and destroyed Luke's academy because of Snoke's promises. When Luke tried to kill him in his sleep it had broken the last thread and he could still smell the death and fire. He was headed toward power, the dark was supposed to numb the pain, to end his torn soul, but here he felt powerless.

The child let go of his hand and went to table, where a simple meal waited to be devoured. Her mother pointed to the extra plate made for him.

"Eat, she says you have a journey ahead and will need it. "

So Ben sat down and dug in, he was hungry after all. These two didn't fear him, it was so strange, he was just a teenager to them...no more frightening than a bird. He had no idea how to leave or contact anyone, Snoke surely felt the connection severed, and the girl was definitely a curious discovery.

"Thankyou for this meal, is there a village near by where i could get another ship? "

"No, son, I'm sorry, this place...there is no village or, well, anyone but us. There is a vast expanse of ocean, our island, maybe other islands, but she told me there are no other beings more than animals." Ralinia explained hesitantly.

He couldn't believe his luck. Now what? He sat silently eating, "I can sleep outside if it makes you feel more comfortable."

Rey climbed up into his lap, "no you won't, I will help you leave, but not yet, and you will sleep in the loft, I made you a pallet," as she spoke she put her little hands on either side of his face with her eyes inches from his...

Ben truly felt odd at this...he was not use to such closeness... everyone avoided him for so long...She just wasn't afraid and seemed to have no concept of boundaries.

She smiled, " I know Ben, I scare mommy alot too, but I know what's coming, it's ok, don't be scared of me." She kissed his nose and jumped off running to her room for bed.

"Where is her father? How did you get stranded here? Her force is so strong." He rambled..."She is not typical for so young. "

"yes, I know, she is powerful...there is no father...I prayed for her and was blessed with her, my husband died years before she came. I am not force-sensitive, noone in my family ever have been. We came here to protect her, from...well probably people like you." Her mother eyed him.

A force child, this little girl was a force child. Snoke already had the other 6 students who left with him, if he arrived with such a prize surely Snoke would keep his promise to train and grant him power.

"I could take her, my master can train her, I am to train, i was training to be a jedi...but I found a new path. You can't hide her indefinitely."

"Go to bed boy, I am exhausted, and you have no way to leave without her permission." She sighed and went to her own room, locking her door.

She knew he was nothing compared to her child but still...


	5. Goodbyes

He woke to singing and sunlight, there was fruit sitting next to him. He ate quickly, then hurried downstairs to explore, there had to be a way off planet.

Rey was dancing around a garden outside singing, radiating light. It almost blinded him, but he couldn't help watching.

"She always sings and dances, says she hears music in everything" her mother had joined him at the window.

"Who built this house?" He asked.

"It was already here, but we added to it, she was 2 when we found it."

She remembers fondly Rey at 2, chuckling to herself. He skims her mind and sees the memories, so many, of little Rey floating things, talking to animals, healing her mother's injuries, ...so many smiling moments.

He steps outside, " how are you helping me leave?"he asked Rey.

" come on!" she instructed running into the woods, him trailing behind, her mother frowning watching them disappear.

He could barely keep up, he wasn't overly fit, but it was obscene how fast she was.

"Here!" Rey yelled.

He watched in shock as she raised her small hand lifting a ship into view, it was nothing too special, but it was quite a feat.

"Here Ben, it works, I'll charge it up and you can go somewhere close to add fluel and such. I can feel planets down system, one is very busy with people. We passed through there when I was still in mommy's belly. You need to go down your path, even though I know it wont fill your heart, happiness is not in power, it is in two hearts beating together."

She touched the ship, it suddenly came to life, the ramp came down. He went in amazed still. Setting his route he prepared to leave.

."Cya!"Rey hollared

"Wait!...i'm taking you with me!" He scrambled, but she had sealed it, the ship took off and he zoomed away whether he was ready or not.

Well, shit! He thought.


	6. Mother

The noise woke them, her mother ran to investigate, told Rey to stay hidden no matter what.

She saw white clad troopers digging around the crash site.

"Where is he?" An officer asked another, he can't have gone far, Supreme Leader said he was enroute, but he didn't arrive with the other jedi brats.

Ralinia turned around to go get Rey to go deeper to hide until these visitors left, but the trooper in her path grabbed her. "This woman was watching us." He told his superior.

"Where is the boy who flew this ship?" He asked her.

"He flew off in my ship, theif took it." She hoped his departure would encourage theirs.

"Sir, there's no village or sign of anyone else, there does appear to have been another ship that recently took off".

The commander looked deep in thought, "then we are just wasting time here, kill her...the Supreme Leader would not want any loose ends".

" no! I..." she tried to stop them, but before much could leave her mouth, a trooper shot her in the head with his blaster. She crumpled to the ground.

"Burn the body and load up, there's nothing left of his ship, let's head to the next planet," he was so cold about it.

"Sir. We just got a message, the boy arrived. Orders are to head back."

"Good, I'm fed up with all these nothing planets." They loaded up and were about to take off, noone saw the small girll sneak onboard, she made sure she stayed in shadow, her powers made it easy.

She cried for her mother, laying behind a crate she curled around herself and drifted into a restless sleep. She dreamed about so many things, but raven hair and deep eyes entered her mind. She saw him kneeled down in pain, light all around him snd several other shadowed figures, they were bloody and looked terrified. She sent calming to him, but her pain went with it ...she saw him shiver in her dream...saw them all tremble.


	7. Found

She missed her mother's arms around her, her heart ached, she was too young not to have her.

The ship moved so fast, she felt the stars passing, she felt the throb of life as planet after planet went by.

She saw Ben exhausted and dirty, wherever he was it was dark and he felt alone too. She wondered if he felt her loss too.

The ship stopped at a desert plant to refuel, she slinked toward the ramp, she saw her opportunity...she felt big hands snatch her by the arm.

"I told you we had a stow away, must belong to that woman we killed, I'm sure we can sell her here."

"Yeh, sell her, I don't want to kill the kid."

A slugg looking blob of an creature took her arm as the soldier negotiated price. "Her mother is dead, no one will come for her, but keep her alive if you can, she will probably be useful."

Rey felt his distain, he felt guilt about leaving her, about her mother's death, she sent forgiveness into the man.

He looked at her, crouched down, "I'm sorry kid, just survive, your mom would want you to. I felt that power, don't show it to people, the First Order looks for your kind. My sister was force-sensitive and was killed. I can only tell you stay hidden and don't use your powers."

She looked at him, "I will".

The planet told her it's name and welcomed her.

The blob guided ber away, " you will eat when you scavenge, you are small girl so you should be useful."


	8. Rey

She felt pain, sickness, sitting up her head swam. It wasn't the first time, but she didn't know why.

She started her day.....

The droid was insistant, she decided to keep him, she doubted his master would pop up but she wouldn't let anyone take him apart.

The next thing she knew they were running from troopers, ships shooting at them, because some stranger claimed to know the droid's master.

Run run run...

...they used a junky ship to get away, Finn claimed to be resistance. They were going to take BB8 to his base. She just wanted to go back home, she was worried she would miss her family. Her day got stranger and stranger, they got taken in by a bigger ship, but it turned out to be Han Solo, and the droid turned out to have a map to another legend...Luke Skywalker. They had to get him to the resistance.

She landed on a beautiful green planet, a funny little orange creature greeted Han and Rey was drawn to a dark place below the bar in the old castle.

She heard what sounded like herself yelling. She found an old box, opening it, she saw a lightsaber. She couldn't help but touch it. Fascinated, all the stories she had heard, the force, these people were real. Her mind jumped, she saw visions she couldn't explain.. it terrified her....she ran.

Ran out...

...out of the castle into the woods...

...Something in her heart throbbed... the beat seemed to join another beat... what in the world...her thoughts swirled...


	9. Forget

Rey struggled everyday to just survive, scavenger life was not for the weak, she thought of her mother...she watched Ben in his destructive decisions.

He never seemed to notice, but she never sent anything his way anymore. He wouldn't benefit right now, the squatter in his brain would never allow him to feel it anyway.

She tried not to use her powers if possible. The blob was cruel, the place was hot and brutal, but she found beauty too. A single strong flower growing despite everything, the night sky gave her peace at night, she listened to people's dreams around her, and had interesting discussions with the planet. It had strong opinions, she couldn't help but laugh. It was quite surprised the day she arrived and she could hear it. It made sure she found water and hid when sand storms were coming.

Her life evolved to her own lone existence in a fallen at-at, she had kept up with time by making little scratches on the wall. Despite offers to trade her body for better food or comfortable surroundings, she held out. She wanted that gift to be given to her other half, the force would unite them some day and it meant more than a loaf of bread.

One day she had climbed so high and deep in a monster of a ship, she lost her footing, the fall jarred her pretty bad. She had hit her head hard, the planet was quite confused when she didn't seem to hear it anymore.

The blob seemed surprised that she kept talking about her family coming for her, he knew the girl's mother was dead. The fall seemed to have affected her mind, but her hope was there, her empathy, and generous spirit. She was her normal spitfire self, fighting off anyone who tried to take her food, her haul, or her body. She kept feeling like she was forgetting something important, she couldn't remember anything from when she was young, just vague memories of songs sung to her and feeling loved deeply. She was almost 18 now, others her age had left planet, gotten married, or started working at one of the brothels years before. She preferred the quiet, alone in the desert.


	10. Kylo

Kylo Ren had left Ben Solo in the past, continued to try and fail at killing that part of himself.

Snoke had been brutal in training and ripping their minds apart from day one. His friends, or not really friends that followed him from Luke's academy had not been prepared for this. At this point they were walking horrors, killing anything anyone the Supreme Leader directed them at. Lightning would kiss their skin and bones would crack if they questioned him, so they just attacked like monsters. The universe feared them, they were his demons, dark personification not human anymore.

The resistance was putting up a slight fight, but more like an annoying flea to a dog than true competition.

The First Order was in control of most areas, an iron fist crushing wills.

He thought of his mother, his father, his uncle...They had hurt him, abandoned him, left his mind vulnerable to this psychological predator. And sometimes he thought of the child, the girl who had healed him, when he was still young, when he still felt anything. Her light had been blinding, her power had been overwhelming, he protected her memory from Snoke, she was the only thing he kept for himself. Somehow the force-sensitive hunts Snoke sent the Knights of Ren on never came across her. Ria, Oro, Slaten, Alex, Gontra, and Faree killed any they found. She must be dead, he would probably feel her if she lived.

Snoke had General Hux bring the knights some entertainment after their most recent battle victory.

Kylo dreaded these for many reasons, Ria was the only female knight and played just as hard as the males, the entertainment rarely survived the party, and if they did Hux passed them to his officers to finish with. His black heart still didn't like watching his men rape and beat these people, cutting and whipping, choking, sometimes burning their skin, they used their force powers in disgusting ways. They would fuck them and abuse them to their delight, Hux would collect what was left clean them up or despose of bodies.

His men enjoyed the leftovers, being a bit twisted themselves. Hux himself didn't seem as inclined, but Snoke was pleased with the brutality so he never spoke his opinion, just took care of things.

Kylo almost gave in one time, a dark haired human female had climbed in his lap, kissing his neck, but when she looked in his eyes he saw the little girl he remembered and shoved her off.

She was instantly grabbed by Oro "I'll take that boss if you aren't partaking again," the man laughed darkly.

He bent the woman over the table near Kylo, ripped her panties off and thrust himself into her, his dick had been out from another woman's attentions. He held her head down on the table and kept thrusting harder and harder. Her expression blank and she didn't bother to scream...like she knew it didn't matter.

Ria watched all her comrades playing, she seemed quite entertained. She wandered around touching some of the faces or breasts, licking sometimes.

She plopped beside Kylo, " I don't know why you don't partake brother, they are just cattle, dead before they walked in here. Snoke knows you don't, he always punishes you the next day. Just plow into one, smack someone around, kill one. Then he will leave you alone a while."

She touched his hand, "or do you want me to assist with one, I can hold that one down for you, I have the perfect knife to decorate her with, look at her panting in want, she's dripping for the pain."

He felt repulsive just being in this room, Snoke knew he wanted none if it, he could kill hundreds but couldn't do these things. And Ria wasn't wrong, Kylo was punished for showing any mercy or compassion, but he got no arrousal from these parties.

Ria tried to kiss him, and he had enough. He stood and worked his way away from her. Oro finished pounded into his woman, he smacked her back, pulled out out her, flipped her around. Grabbed her by the hair and threw her over to Gontra and Alex. They had killed theirs, and were ready for a new toy. The green skinned one and light pink skinned female lay at their feet bloody and broken. This poor human already bruised from Oro, did fight back a bit now. Alex froze her and they put her in place where they each thrust into her holes, one under, one behind, unfreezing her ...they pounded, she cried but stopped flailing.

Ria came over and kissed her, rubbing her breast. "Don't kill this one, Hux will be annoyed if you do" she said.

The woman reduced to a pin cushion between the two muscular men. Alex held her neck hard as he finished with a grunt. Gontra slid out as he came hard. The poor thing fell to the floor on top of the corpses.

Kylo felt like he would be sick, this life was not what he was promised, endless death and the power was always just out of reach...constantly feeling torn in half. Disgusted with himself, he turned away.

Faree had been more gentle with his prize, Slaten as well, Hux was pleased 3 had lived, though one looked like she was mentally broken.

"you 3 come with me, you are to clean up, eat, and rest, my officers are expecting you tomorrow night. They aren't as vigorous as the knights.Your payments are ready for you as well. The money for the dead ones has been split between you."

With that he led them away, troopers came in to carry the more damaged one, and a few others came to collect the dead.

Kylo quickly escaped the mess and retreated to his quarters. Laying on his bed, he closed his eyes, he was to head to a far off desert plant the next day, he was not looking forward to it. He had yet to find the damn map to Skywalker for Snoke, and was tired of ripping through mind after mind looking for it. He wondered if his training would ever be completed. Sighing, he thought of hazel eyes, a smile that warmed him, that calm that had filled his heart, if he had stayed there with that child and her mother he wouldn't be here.. watching his friends kill, watching himself torture and destroy. She would be 18 now, he wondered what she would look like now, if she would still be so quick to dismiss and forgive his darkness. He remembered that no sooner than he was away from her Snoke was there in his mind again, grinding into his core. It had hurt, but her absence had hurt more. Something protected her because as the ship left he couldn't sense her power. That thought comforted him some, she could be alive, safe, hidden, ...he knew that they killed her mother when they found where he had crashed. But there had been no reports of a child. He smiled, Snoke didn't know of her, she wouldn't be twisted like him or his knights.


	11. Cruel intentions

He heard himself order the entire village killed...

He saw himself slash through the old man...

He noticed the one trooper who didn't fire his gun...he left him be.

The arrogant pilot had mocked him about the damn droid, pity, he would crack soon enough.

Poe Dameron, best pilot of the resistance, he saw his fear. He didn't think he would leave this room alive, but he hoped he could hold his mind together.

Kylo heard his thoughts about him, the man was terrified, seeing what happened in the village had only increased that.

He respected Organa, loved her, this pilot felt small in this dark room trapped with the evil Kylo Ren.

Kylo relished in this, interrogation gave him an outlet, excused cruelty. Ria had seen them drag Poe in, the rest of his knights were stretched out across the galaxy on missions Snoke gave them.

She had pulled Kylo aside, "can I have him when you're done, I like his hair, i want to play with that one a bit before he dies. " Her cruel smile gave him chills, the pilot thought Kylo was scary, lol, he had no idea what Ria had in her head. Her thoughts for the pilot were beyond physical, she wanted to make it last a while.

"We shall see, he might not make it past his time with me Ria". Ria came up to the confused pilot stuck in the chair restraints, she looked into his eyes, ran her fingers through his hair, touched his lips...he jerked away.

"See ya later handsome, ...hopefully." with a mischievous wink she left Kylo alone with his prey.

He gave him the option to talk, of course he declined, the force slammed into his brain. Head banging against the chair, body convulsing, his mind being stripped... Kylo found what he needed, the pilot had put the map into his droid. He left him hanging there.

"Take the prisoner to Ria Ren's quarters, she will keep him for the remainder of his stay." He aimed at the trooper.

Then went to report to Snoke. The trooper unhooked the restraints, leading him toward Ria's quarters.

He was stopped by another trooper, "Ren changed his mind, I'm to escort this prisoner to transport."

They quickly moved away, down multiple corridors.

Kylo received word from Hux about the escape, the defecting trooper. Ria would be unhappy about losing her toy, Kylo was annoyed he hadn't killed that trooper in the village. But they knew about the droid now, soon they would find it.

Reports kept coming in, they'd lost the ship on Jakku, the pilot had vanished but the trooper had been seen with the droid and a girl.

Hux was hopping mad that they had evaded his men, flying away on some junky ship. Spies were notified of what to watch for, they wouldn't get far.


	12. Hux

Hux ushered the remaining whores to his officers the night after the knights left.

All but Ria Ren were gone, he was relieved...they gave him the creeps. He could swear they pictured him without his skin, their tastes were so fucked up.

But Kylo annoyed the shit out of him with his tantrums, such a petulant child. Snoke used him as a weapon, ...Hux believed his soldiers were enough, these animals were barely kept on a leash. The pilot escaping was yet another migraine he suffered, the traitor helping him made his army look bad, ...Ren had to point it out. They never caught the droid, the trooper had gotten away with the help of some damn girl.

But now Ren was headed to Maz's place, a patron that kept an eye out there for him let them know the droid had arrived. But not alone, Han Solo was there..the traitor...and the nobody girl. The map would be theirs soon enough. He couldn't stand the arrogant brat , but Kylo would bring them in or at least the droid.

Snoke had punished him pretty badly after the last party, and more when the droid escaped. Hux never felt their master's wrath like Kylo, it was a miracle the boy had survived so long.

He sat in his office waited for a new report.

The blonde on her knees continued her task, with a grunt he finished, sending her to refresh and dismissed her. She lived through his officers entertaining as well, so he figured why not, it had been stressful lately. He laughed. If Ren would allow time for himself like this occasionally maybe he would stop randomly destroying the ship and his troopers.


	13. Maz

Maz felt power from the girl, fear from the ex-trooper, Han didn't want to face his ex-wife, and she chuckled at the lot of them.

She was floored when Rey found Luke's blade, tried to encourage her not to fear it, to take it since it had called to her. But the force vision the child had experienced terrified her, she ran away without it into the woods.

Maz gave it to Finn, told him to give it to Rey. She knew the girl would need it, in a 1,000 years and she never felt such power from another force-sensitive being. Han and Leia's son Ben had immense power in him, but she hadn't seen the boy in years...had heard about his fall into darkness...had seen the pain of loss in his parent's eyes. They told people he was dead, killed by the First Order, by Kylo Ren himself...the attack dog of Snoke and the savage leader of Knights of Ren.

She knew the girl was in danger, the knights hunted such power for Snoke, killing any they found. Snoke didn't want the jedi to rebuild. As far as she knew Luke was the last, and he had been hiding for years.

Then her thoughts were interrupted by explosions, the First Order had come it seemed. Maz grabbed her blaster, time to fight again. She smiled, she felt power thumping above her, it was the girl...the force wouldn't be ignored, but there was a dark energy as well...the old creature swallowed...she wondered if Kylo Ren had decided to drop in himself for this attack. She knew the droid would be safe soon, but they would have to stall until the resistance arrived.


	14. Familiar feeling

She ran until she saw noone, until green surrounded her.

Tears streaming down her face, what was that?!

The images still vivid in her mind. That creature, so tall and dark, blackness seeping toward her, and the others behind him were just as full of death. They had struck the man down without a thought. That helpless man. And the other images of fire and screaming, the smoke had choked her lungs,...

She heard shots in the distance, BB8 had followed her worried, she told him to go and hide, she didn't know where Han and Finn were, she would probably die against these troops. She had the blaster though, surely it couldn't be that hard to shoot, aim and pull the trigger. But her hand trembled, she had defended herself, she had never killed,...when the white clad troopers found her finally she shot weakly at their arms or legs.

She kept running, they hadn't found the droid because the battle at Maz's castle still raged...these drones were still hunting it.

She felt the strangest vibration, a thrum in her heart, beating with hers, the forest had become so quiet, then she saw it ...the creature from her vision.

With a flash of red it drove at her.

Relentless, but not really hitting her, seemed like it was trying to wear her down.

She shot and shot, with a wave it simply deflected every one. Then she couldn't move at all. The force she assumed, so the creature had powers, great, freakin great.

She felt him size her up, skim her mind for information. He asked about the droid, seemed surprised it had shown her the map to Skywalker, her a no one scavenger. She knew he would get it from her and she would die, but death didn't come, only blackness.

Kylo was told the droid had been sighted, but he had the girl, they'd lost a lot of troops with the resistance arriving. He ordered the remaining units to pull out. He carried the filthy girl bridal style to the ship. Troopers offered to take the prisoner from him, he wouldn't let anyone touch her. He felt it needed to be him, he didn't know why.

* * *

When they arrived on the Finalizer he handed her off to Gillian, "clean her, dress her, then have her taken to an interrogation room, I'll come to her shortly. "

The man was shocked by his master's kindness toward the girl, he couldn't remember it happening in the past, prisoners he dealt with rarely lived past their conversation. But he obeyed, she never woke while she was bathed and dressed, simple clothes had been selected, tan pants and black tank top, they would have to order underthings if she lived longer. Gillian took note of her youth, she couldn't be more that 17,19 maybe. And beautiful, her simple natural looks shown now that the mudd was gone.

He wondered if his master had noticed and planned to keep her to play with like his knights did sometimes. They would chain prisoners up in their quarters until they tired of them, finally killing them.

Master Kylo had never done so, maybe he was wrong.

Sealing her in place he notified his master she was there, ready but still unconscious. He assumed she had been placed in a force sleep for travel, but he didn't understand why...what could a slip of a girl do to a knight of Ren. He silently wished her luck, whatever information the First Order wanted from her they were about to get it. He returned to his quarters until his master needed him again. He secretly hoped she would be around longer.


	15. Waiting game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey slept soundly, drifting in a sea of light and shadows, she vaguely remembered the monster, she knew he had put her into this slumber. But why hadn't he killed her? Did he not get the map from her memory of what BB8 showed her? Must not have, ... she next sat on a white beach, waves lapping over her feet as she played her toes in. She smiled, this place was where her mind went when she was sad or upset. It was serene, the musical flow of the wind dancing around her, sparkling water under the warm sunshine. She knew she would wake up, but to what she wasn't sure. But she wasn't afraid, nothing could truly make her scared. Kylo sat watching her, he was astonished...her smile in the force sleep startled him...he thought of waking her...but continued just to wait. What was she seeing. He didn't dare dip into her mind yet, the reaction to his presence would be interesting...he was kind of putting it off. Hux had berated him in front of Snoke for taking her instead of the droid. The redhead annoyed the shit out of him, always competing like a jealous sibling.

Her lashes fluttered slightly, she could sense someone near. She could smell soap and oil, hear a heartbeat speed up a bit.

The room was cold, the metal chair, table maybe that held her was as well, her wrists and ankles secured, looking up she saw it.

The creature, all in dark cloth, with a metal face, she had barely registered anything it said in the forest when it froze her. She only heard the thrum in her ears.

Now she looked up completely. The dark thing stiffened, she wondered how long it had been just watching her.

She realized she had been cleaned and had new clothes on, but her stomach was empty...nothing new there. Hunger was a friend she knew from Jakku.

"Where am I?" "Where are my friends?" "Why am I not dead?" She stammered out.

He had been startled by her waking, more so by her apparant lack of fear in his presence. Her eyes held nothing but light and hope. So strange, "You are my guest, your friends...the thieves, liars, traitors,...I have no idea where they are, I only took you. The droid we are looking for showed you a map, I have the rest I just need that piece..you will give it to me." He explained in a friendly conversation type tone, like they weren't in this room.

He looked her over, her freckled face, large eyes, tan skin, her hair plain but looked soft, ...nothing special per say, but beautiful...lord, why did that thought appear?

Why would he think of that right now?

He needs answers...

She defiantly looked toward him, " I don't answer to a creature in a mask."

He clipped his mask off with a hiss, she was not expecting that face, he wasn't a monster...he was a young man, older than her but not evil looking... he could be a prince he was so pretty to her. Full lips, raven hair that looked so silky, light skin that made him dollish, she didn't lower her eyes, but her breath held a moment as he got closer.

She had never been close to a male back home, she guarded her virtue well, stayed to herself. She wondered why he hid such a face, that face could get answers easier than the mask...but she figured fear was probably his usual go to... so...

"I can take whatever I want." He stood over her, getting so close to her face, hand stretched next to her temple like It would caress her cheek.

This made her swallow, she didn't like people so close, she felt him gently reaching in her head, it hurt a little...she winced.

"Alone at night you picture an ocean, I see it, I see the island,...you saw Han Solo as a father you never had, ...he would have disappointed you...I know you saw the map, why that droid showed you...a lowly filthy scavenger I have no idea...but you will give it to me!"

He felt a wall come up inside her,...she shivered...he felt something, "Don't worry, I feel it too"

...though he wasn't sure what 'it' was...

the wall got stronger...he pressed harder.....

"I'm not giving you anything, get out of my head!" She yelled, feeling a bit more sure...she felt something pushing him out...and curled herself around it pushing it harder at him....

...he looked surprised, it made her more sure.

He wasn't being gentle anymore, he was ramming into her brain now, but she shoved him out and found herslf in an odd place, dark and heavy, full of fire and repulsive agony.

This was his thoughts...she grabbed one, threw it at him, "you are afraid... afraid you will never be as strong as Darth Vader!" She almost screamed it at him.

It made him step back.

He was pissed, what the hell had just happened?!

She was panting with the effort...

Then he truly looked in her eyes, emerald and gold,....hazel pools...

the thought emerged...

the ocean the island...what the force...the girl!

But he didn't feel the force from her on the planet? Not until now, when she pushed his attack back, reversing it on him. Did she recognize him after so long? He didn't think so, ...so she had been hidden all these years, on Jakku of all places. How did she get there?!

The thrum coming from her was increasing...the Supreme Leader would definitely feel her power now, whatever had protected her was gone, whether she remembered or not she would be in danger now. He had to get out, he was angry at his weakness, he still had no map, and now he had this new issue to deal with !

He stormed out....


	16. Child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Han and Finn raced against the clock, they had to blow up Starkiller before anymore damage was done, so many lives had already been lost. Hux had used it once, and was preparing to set it off again. The resistance was counting on them. Finn wanted to find Rey, but all information hinted at her being killed after they left planetside. Leia had spies on the Finalizer, they knew his friend was interrogated by Kylo Ren...and noone was kept after that. Poe had only escaped because of the ex-trooper. They set the charges, Han had hoped to find a sign of his son also, but nothing...he had left the base already to return to the Finalizer. Noone knew why. What good were spies with no intel. They carefully made their way back to the Falcon, Finn was not happy though. The one trooper they cornered said the prisoners from the last raid had been shot. His heart was heavy, his friend was gone. He had been been so happy when Poe popped back up to their rescue, but he wanted Rey back too.

From space they watched with satisfaction as Starkiller exploded.

Han didn't look forward to telling Leia he'd failed her, that Rey was dead, that he had not even seen their son.

But it couldn't be helped, more were saved today with that weapon gone. The greater good and all that jive. But he still felt bad. He had disappointed her so much over the years. And mr big time, was sullen, the loss of the girl had devasted the man.

They headed back to base quiet.


	17. Gillian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He loved his master, had never questioned anything, he had served his grandfather. His life was so long but he didn't mind, honor was everything to Gillian. When Leia never took her place at the family home, and Luke had dismissed his heritage completely as well, he simply took care of the estate. He hadn't expected to be given to master Ben, the boy had been training with his uncle to be a jedi. He knew some ugly mess had occurred, and the young man came here. He didn't judge, he saw alot of Anakin in him.

Snoke had notified Gillian of the boy coming soon, that he was to take a transport to be at his side. He was part of his birthright, that the family wealth had been rendered his as well.

Leia walked from alot when she declined her biological father, her blood. The boy owned multiple castles, no end of treasures, and money...tons. He would never worry for anything. Leia blew every penny she retained from her adoptive family, it bought fighters and supplies for the resistance.

The servant had enjoyed taking care of Ben, his temper flew at everyone except the old man. He didn't put forth the effort to be domineering to him, there was no point.

Now he delighted in his guest.

The girl had been moved to master Ben's quarters. He assumed for her safety. Master had told him he wouldn't be joining her for now, but he was to keep her inside, fed, and entertained.

She had arrived asleep again, and been laid gently on the bed by Ben himself. He watched his master cover her and look down at her with concern. She looked so small compared to him. He would explain later he claimed. She would have questions when she woke, he'd been told, and to answer to the best of his ability.

She was like him, but she didn't seem to remember that fact or him, that he had met her in the past. Gillian wasn't to let Ria or anyone else near her...

...that as far as anyone knew ...he had killed her on Starkiller when he couldn't get the map from her. The base had blown, so no one had reason to question that. The resistance intel sounded like they had heard the news as well. So for now, no one seemed the wiser.

It was a curious thing, but Gillian saw an uneasiness in Ben. The girl made him nervous, a funny thing when entire armies didn't scare this man. It could almost be thought of as cute. Ben told him he would send for him soon.

He had ordered underthings for her, as well as basic dresses and clothes, slippers for her feet and boots. She never wore any of the shoes, her bare feet seemed to make her the happiest. Lotions and soaps had entranced her, the giant bath and shower had delighted her. She seemed quite confused as to why she was not dead yet, but not overly worried.

Her food had been selected with detailed thought, like his master wanted her to try everything possible.

She explored his quarters but never slept in the bed. She created a pallet with the comforter in his giant closet, slept there every night. She had insisted another comforter brought in for his bed in case he came back. She asked alot of questions, but not about what he expected.

She asked him about himself, his long life was fascinating to her. She asked about what he knew of the force. He checked on her during sleep time, every night...she was always asleep in the closet, looking peaceful, completely harmless. If he didn't know any better he would say he felt calmer in her presence.

He wondered how long his master would stay away, but he knew it was fear that kept him at bay.

She drew animals and landscapes with the pencils she asked for. She read his books, she had taught herself at some point,...she cared for a flower she had requested,... she stared at the stars through the window hatch, she did exercise activities.

One day she had startled him by jumping off the top of Ben's bookshelf. She sang songs to herself he had never heard before, and danced to some musical tune he didn't seem to hear.

She was such a sweet creature. Master would enjoy her company he thought, but that in itself was probably why he stayed away.


	18. Just because

Hux was annoyed, sore, and just plain pissy after being berated by Snoke about the failure of Starkiller.

They had destroyed some planets, but it had also gotten blown to hell by the resistance. Ren had never pulled the map from that scavenger, the enemy had the droid.

One of his officers reported her death after a lengthy interrogation by Kylo. He knew it was false, he had seen him take her to his ship when the evacuation had started.

He didn't notify anyone, the boy had finally took an interest in something ...someone, an odd pick to be sure...but who was he to care. There hadn't been any recent tantrums, so she must be serving a purpose. He doubted the kind he would have enjoyed, but again ...to each his own.

He couldn't find any information about her, she may have just sprouted from nothing, noone from nowhere. Jakku collected such people. But he didn't point it out to Ren, he had watched the boy suffer over the years, he seemed to enjoy nothing

...the Supreme Leader seemed to thrive on ripping his head apart, frying his body, and setting him to obscene tasks. The boy could never complete enough horrific things to please him, he pitted him against his own knights constantly. They never came out victorious, but he found no pleasure leaving their bones broken and bleeding. Hux pittied him.

Despite being pitted against each constantly as well, his own father had been a bug he crushed, but he really had no desire to crush the kid. He could never show that though, survival would always win out. Now he hid the girl, curious thing, he grimly knew it would not last. Whatever was going on...who was he to take it from him.

He sent for the blonde again, he hadn't bothered to learn her name. She had been quiet and eager to please, so he had gotten her quarters, kept her up a bit, he didn't share her now. She reminded of a girl from his homeworld, before power hunger drove him.

Power was a delicious thing, but an empty one alone. He did not desire a wife, and her company may not please him indefinitely, but it was enjoyable. He had to be an insufferable ass 99% of the time, she didn't care if he spoke a word to her.

"Hello sir, what do you wish this evening?" She asked as she entered.

" what is your name?" He replied.

"Leona," she said meekly.

He patted the bed, she sat, "may I read with you my dear? Just lay across my lap so I can pet your hair while I read."

She looked surprised, but intrigued, and complied happily. He read to her for hours, until she fell asleep. He stayed that way.

In the morning he had to interrogate a new batch of of prisoners, Ria had brought them in, supposed witnesses to where Luke may be. He would see...


	19. Drifting

Rey let her clothes fall away to the cool floor, sinking into the hot steamy bath, she sighed. There were flowers floating in the watery ocean of bubbles.

Gillian said it was requested by master Kylo, she still did not understand. She had not given him what he took her for, she had even somehow pushed him out of her mind and dipped into his when he tried interrogating her.

He had not been in his own quarters for a long time, and left his servant to dote on her every whim. She didn't mind, her powers had only increased as the days passed.

She read more and more about the force, Gillian brought her new books as she finished them. She saw noone, but felt everyone on the large ship , thousands....she saw their dreams, heard their fears, she felt him.

He would drift close by then scurry away.

She felt the stars radiance and danced in their light, the force kept growing inside her, kept telling her new things to try. She let her flower die, then brought it back to life. Moved things easily around the rooms, right now she made some of her bath water dance above her like it was moving to music. It made her giggle. She had memories of this, or she thinks she does, it was like reaching for something just beyond her fingertips.

She sent him images of sunsets and sunrises she couldn't have seen in person herself, but that were there in her head. She saw him running around the ship yelling at people, looking anxious. It amused her to no end, he would look around but didn't seem to get that it was her.

* * *

This something connecting them was odd.

Kylo Ren kept feeling watched, he felt paranoid and used his force to reach around him, finding noone. So frustrating, but then the pictures entered his mind every time he laid down to try to sleep.

Beautiful places, skies of so many colors...where in the world, one night he felt everything quiet...and he saw her. He hadn't made it happen, he knew, but he was transfixed.

She was in the scented bath he instructed Gillian to run for her, the bubbles and floral accents...she was delighted in the water she made dance above her. Her face lighting up as it twirled, he smiled himself, it was so miraculous.

Her force energy had increased steadily, enough that it worried him, he had force dampeners put in the walls all around his quarters, it hadn't helped.

He could no longer put her in a force sleep. He could not read her mind without her allowing him in. So he didn't try. He had lashed out again more and more with frustration, but people tried to generally avoid him. He had begun training more intensely hoping it would help. He kept seeing her randomly, he assumed she probably saw him too when he didn't know.

But right now he was trying to focus, Alex had returned from the Outer Rim and they were working on formations.

Alex looked at him "brother, you are distracted, has something happened? I know there was an odd pulse in the force a bit ago but nothing since, did you sense it? Is that what has you so preoccupied?"

Kylo gazed at the knight before him, he was the youngest and honestly the softest of the group, he didn't delve as deeply as his fellows when he could. Kylo thinks if given the chance the man would leave for good, but has never been given the privilege of hope.

"I sensed it, yes, Snoke felt it as well, he says an awakening occurred, a massive surge of power but he hasn't zeroed in on the source." He was being honest, but it wasn't a relief.

"Hmmmm, makes sense...Ria and the others felt it as well. Oro said it woke him from deep sleep on the other side of the galaxy. So strange."

The man looked at Kylo intently, "master I see conflict in you, you know the cause don't you, you are more powerful than the rest of us."

At this, he looked to the floor, "it will sort itself out in time, now let's get back to work, you have been slacking, I can tell, Ria would have broken a limb off you by now, but I have been generous," Kylo offered.

They continued to spar more vigorously, Alex seemed to understand silence was his only option now.

He headed back to the quarters he's been squatting in. He will go to her tonight.

Maybe tomorrow...uggggg, he was such a coward....


	20. Oceans

Kylo had succesfully gotten her off the base before it blew, barely.

He sensed his father there, the traiter, the wookie,...he knew what they were doing.

He had heard the screams from the force as those billions died when it had been used, it brought him no pleasure.

He had gone back to the interrogation room and put her back to sleep before she could react. He told one of the troopers stationed outside she was dead, he had killed her trying to retrieve the map. He instructed the man to seek out the traitor, to make sure they were told she was gone. And the other trooper was to report the same to his superior officer, and Hux.

He gathered her in his arms and fled down the hall, and the next and the next, until he made it to the hanger.

In the craziness noone seemed to pay him any attention, he was just another person trying to evacuate.

He felt power coming from her sleeping form once they were in his shuttle.

He saw what she dreamed, saw the ocean and sand. He found no memories of him or even her mother, the wall wasn't up as she slept.

He wondered what had happened to make her forget, he found no trace of someone taking the memories. He dug a bit deeper, she had fallen years ago. Hit her head, ah that was it. The force retreated apparently, strange, he knew it was resurfacing....maybe the memories would as well. He just had to keep her safe in the mean time.

Gillian would like watching over her, he knew the old man missed having more to do....someone to dote on.

His quarters were protected, no one would sense her there, he could hide her in his mind from Snoke while he figured things out.

He would stay somewhere else until he felt ready to face her. He ordered her things, discussed all of it with his servant. She would wake to comfort and food and wanting for nothing. Gillian would get her anything she showed interest in. She just couldn't leave, hopefully it wouldn't anger her.

He couldn't stomach the idea of anyone touching her or her displeasure.

He closed his eyes and felt her warmth, it came at him in waves.

He remembered the calm and affection she'd sent into him so long ago. He knew his darkness had only grown since then.

He laid her on his bed, covered her, checked everything. Told the old man he would explain later, and escaped her presence.

He released her from sleep from the other side of the door. He felt her wake. He hoped his knights hadn't sensed her yet...


	21. Ben

He froze, she smiled, "Hello Ben."

He couldn't have just heard his true name on her lips...

"my powers have grown while you hid from me, the monster afraid of a girl...it's comical." She laughed.

Kylo Ren collected himself, " my name is Kyo Ren, I am master of the Knights of Ren, apprentice to Supreme Leader Snoke, heir to Darth Vader himself....why did you use that name?"

She stepped closer, "I only know what the force gave me, Ben came to my mind, I don't really know why, ...before you removed your mask on the base I was sure you were a creature set to kill me...I don't now....but I also still have no idea why you petrify everyone and not me. Why you seem familiar. Why I have powers. Why I was able to push you out of my head. Why I am in your quarters and not in a cell. Why we can see eachother and feel eachother no matter how far away."

He steadied himself, "I would have killed you...I should have, I have ended so many...but I owe you a life, you don't remember, but you healed me when we were both very young, a lifetime ago...in your mind I saw you fall, I think you were hurt in Jakku, I think it's why you don't remember. I'm truly not sure how you ended up there,... but I do know about your mother, your only family, died when you were small. Your force, the powers you have, went dormant when you were hurt, but seem to be resurfacing. Your memories may as well."

She dipped the edge of his thoughts, he didn't stop her, and found what he spoke was true.

"Dead, I don't remember her, I feel her love...I hear her singing, ...I feel like I know you, Gillian has been kind, noone else has come here, does Finn or Han, or anyone even know where I am?...no...they don't, they think you killed me back there don't they? You hid me here, the squatter in your head, he preys on you, power is what he craves and uses you for, it's that fear of him using my power that made you hide me and lie,...you woke up this inside me, you can help me understand it...I feel so much now, you have no idea how fast this force has grown." She talked at him.

He finally responded, "the ocean, the island that you see when you sleep, it was your home...it's where you met me...."


	22. Coward

She laid her head down on her makeshift pillow in the dark closet, still refusing the huge bed.

She felt his self analysis, he felt like a coward for not coming to face her yet.

Rey agreed, so she decided to tell him so. "You could just say something to me...we've been watching eachother daily, you even snuck into my bathtime the other day...rude!" She jabbed at him.

His face was ghostly white, anger swelled up, "this is obsurd, how is this even happening?"

"I'm not doing it, I just got tired of acting like I couldn't see you. I think something happened on that base when we were in eachother's heads. Just come see me, this is your room after all, I'm not in the bed, you can have it."

She sent him feelings of reassurance, she felt something flicker deep within him.

"I'm coming." He said flatly, as he left the room.

He stepped through his door cautiously, he hadn't actually faced her since he tried forcing his way into her mind, since he realised who she really was to him. Alex's statement about all his knights feeling a surge in the force wherever they were worried him. Snoke pointing it out had made him truly ache. But then there she was, not in his head but standing there, accented by the stars behind her.

He thought of when she had greeted him by his name, taken his hand and changed his path forever.

He had stayed his course, searching for power, but she had left an imprint within him...that child.

No amount of torture had cut it out, the blood he had spilled had not drown her memory.

She had haunted him all these years with her sweet smile.

"Hello Ben." Escaped her lips....and he was again speechless....


	23. Ria Ren

She rode him like she was trying to drive him through her...harder faster, he was bruised and wore already, foreplay had been nightmarish to say the least.

She revelled in it, his pain, he'd given her the information so easily, the cuts on his chest bled with every jerk of her hips.

The resistance needed stronger fighters, she laughed, it made him shudder beneath her. But to the human's credit he had took it all, she had devoured his mind, beaten him until his body lay limp, cut him with her favorite toy up and down his naked form.

She built into her climax steadily, he seemed to be holding out, good boy, no doubt hoping to survive the night. She took his throat in hand as she crested, growling as she released.

She was generous, letting her prisoner finish after, climbing off she looked at him, "so Skywalker felt the awakening as well, now he's searching for the source like the rest of the universe. You did well rebel, you won't remember this..." she touched his temple, he relaxed into sleep.

She sent for troopers, "return him where I found him, leave him at the bar, drink in his hand, pay the owner to tell him when wakes he came in like that, rough night, lol, goodbye Dameron."

She could have slit his throat when she was done, but she wanted to find Skywalker, he may still be useful.

He had told her Luke had drug himself out of whatever hole he was hiding in and come to his sister Leia. Telling her about a shift in the force, a massive surge of power, and since had been bouncing planet to planet searching for information.

She hadn't reported it the her master yet, Kylo would want definitive answers.

Snoke told them it was an awakening, he had felt it, as they all did before Starkiller had been ambushed.

Kylo had recently updated their missions to gathering intel, but she felt him holding something back.

She showered and dressed, this dirt hole of a planet was drab and boring, she had been lucky to stumble into the drunk pilot, recognizing the hair she'd ran her fingers through when her master had interrogated him. She had missed out on him being her pet then, he had escaped with the traitor, but she got her fun. She grinned to herself, he would be more than hungover tomorrow, his body and mind would give him quite the wake up. She had altered the memory slightly, he wouldn't remember who, just what she'd done to him.

Oro was meeting her at her next destination, he had found a few snippets as well, they were to check in soon and they wanted more to offer up.

Alex had been with Kylo training, he had so much work to do, he was still squeamish about a lot. But he had uses, she had worked on him some herself, his beauty was a treat, and he took her destructive games in stride when she needed it. He let her do whatever sadistic thing she wanted, welcomed it, if she had a heart he could have taken it.

As it was, she kept him at bay, cruel words kept him away, she flaunted lovers to show he was just another one of many.

She sent word to Oro she would arrive soon...


	24. Luke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wind whipping, he sat meditating...well trying, hermit life was somewhat peaceful but he missed his connection to the force. He missed his sister, he missed his friends. They had won the day way back, but at a steep cost. He'd lost his father after only barely finding him, and here he was alone. Being a jedi was just that... alone.

The old temple always had power emanating from it, normal to feel it, the dark cave beckoned always...he had never felt comfortable admitting being called toward the dark...this island had its ups and downs.

He knew darkness had shifted again with the rise of the First Order, he knew Leia faught hard against a much stronger foe... he wanted no part of it.

He couldn't face her, or Han, he had lost their son to darkness, he had lost his students and his academy to Snoke. The tricky bastard had snuck into his nephew's mind, and several jedi in training, stolen them away...but it was his fault he knew.

He was terrified of what grew in Ben Solo, he saw what was coming...he made a choice... the wrong one...his blade above him as he slept....he thought to snuff it out before... shame washed over him but the boy saw...it was too late to take it back, he was scared and felt betrayed after feeling abanadoned already by his parents.

Luke lost him in that moment just as he lost himself. He had judged with his own fear...and paid dearly.

Now he sat, bored and grouchy, alone.

Every nerve suddenly stiffened... the island seemed to swell with power...he heard it.. felt it thick and far... it took his breath...an awakening like he had never felt...not unlike his nephew...

...but more, well shit!

He thought frustrated, now what?!

He reluctantly opened up to the force, it was painful, it had been ...a while to say the least.

He could tell it was far away, but nothing else. He found where he had left his old ship...it was a disaster, raising his hand it came out of the shallow water and onto the shore...he sent wind around it to dry it out, lightning to get it up and going...using dark powers...he was such a hypocrite.

The next day he loaded up supplies. In his mind he let Leia know he was heading her way. He had alot to discuss with her whether he was ready or not....the force was fickle, and wasn't in the mood to explain so off to find out he would go...


	25. Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey lay in the closet as usual, Kylo was finally sleeping in his own bed when he wasn't called away, which had been alot lately. She watched his chest rise and fall, he had curled into his covers with just sleeping pants on, so when he started rolling around restless his bare chest was out in all it's glory. His arms rested over his head, the beat of his heart, the sound of his breathing lulled her to close her own exhausted lids...

Rey found herself in a beautiful place, a crystal stream ran beside her bare feet, the cool breeze whistled through her hair. She glanced around seeing several colorful creatures, they scurried away.

She heard a familiar song, so peaceful, light danced around her, beside the stream she saw a boy, long limbed and awkward, shaggy dark hair, he was dipping his toes in the water bothering the rainbow looking fish. She slowly inched closer, his eyes found hers and he smiled.

"There you are." He greeted, "we wondered where you've been keeping yourself."

She sat beside him, he took her hand." I've been lost to you a while," she felt recognition.

"She is over there waiting, I've kept her company for you. "

He favored Kylo, ...no Ben that she met recently but maybe younger.

" I am not him by the way, I am just a memory of him you forgot. She is your mother, you lost us both when you got hurt. But you are healing as your powers grow, the force is slowly giving your mind back everything and soon you will understand."

Her mother sat against a large flowery tree a few feet away, she was singing softly, running her fingers over the fluffy grass.

"Hello Rey, come closer, we need to chat,"the woman beckoned. Rey moved to her releasing her hand from the boy.

"So you are dead, I have noone." Her heart sank.

Her mother touched her cheek, as her tears fell, "you have never been alone. The force has kept you safe, and guided you back to him,... the boy you met on our beach. He is kind of a mess, you have probably already see that. His quest for power pushed him away from you long ago, but it didn't satisfy anything...he still feels hallow, his heart blackened by abuse and death. He wouldn't let anyone in once evil anchored inside his mind, but you have always been with him. His memory of you."

Rey felt a sudden jolt from head to toe, energy surged through every molecule.

Her eyes saw everything in succession, his crash, her healing him, her taking his hand, her power. She marveled at it all. He had been poisoned already, so young and didn't know how to react to her acceptance and kindness. The force let her see him, not what he'd done, not the mistakes he would keep making for years to come, but the possibility of who he had within his heart. His soul was not gone, the darkness didn't hold every part. Her light had been blinding then to him, scaring him a bit, he had thought to take her younger self to his master..she had prevented that. She saw her mother hide her when the others had come looking for him,...saw them kill her, she heard the woman's heartbeat stop. She saw how one officer had found her, but spared her leaving her on Jakku. She smiled recalling the planet helping her. Realizing what she could do, crazy...but it felt better to know...she had been loved, truly loved. She was excited, her power...endless possibilities... Ben...he was her other...their bond...she had known from the start, misplaced for awhile sure, but just theirs. She reached for his mind, the boy near the stream changed...grew, aged, blinking he looked up at her so confused. Her mother was gone, but she knew she wasn't far.

"Hello again Ben, long time no see!"

She touched his face, he didn't speak, he just kept staring, then glanced around taking this world in, he seemed to absorb where he had been pulled to.

Swallowing, he voiced, " you brought me into your dreams,...you remember me."

"I can feel it, I can feel the difference in your light, this place is you... serenity, balance,... it's lovely."

He rose up from the ground, looked unhappily at his bare feet, he was him, just in light colored clothes, no shoes, and definitely no mask.

She was so close, vibrant colors hugged at him, the force licked at him, ...what was this? He felt content, his mind was quiet, full of questions, ...but empty of anyone else but her.

She took his hand, gave him her acceptance of the past, her peace of loss, shared the love her mother gave. She reminded him of his family's love for him, pulled the shadows off those childhood memories so he could see the parts that had been twisted. She sent him recognition of this bond they shared.

He smiled, not knowing what else to do.


	26. Poe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe woke up at a bar, he had to have passed out at some point...but had no idea how he made his way back here. He remembers talking to a woman, humanish looking he thinks...his eyes could have lied a bit there. His body hurt! His head pounded...omg. what had he drank?! His clothes are pretty saturated, with ...blood? Pulling his shirt sleeves up he sees cuts, moving his shirt in a different place he finds more on his stomach and chest, ...ugggg....his head ached....memories flip into his brain...but man they're blurry. Whoever he'd hooked up with was certifiable...he was pretty sure he was lucky to be alive. He can't picture her face, he doesn't recall hearing a name, but he sees her body flex and roll over him....he feels her breath and laughter, he had cum pretty hard when she did, ...so he must've done something right. She had been rough! He had been with a few really physical chicks, but she had wore him out. He was not bragging to Finn for sure, ...he'd better head back, he wasn't sure how long he had stayed out, he was gonna catch hell for being late. Luke hadn't sent anything new, Leia didn't know where he was at the moment. He needed caf and his bunk...for like ...years! He chuckled, but that hurt....

Finn caught him at the ramp, "where have you been? Leia is pissed! You are so late, you left to get a drink two days ago man!"

...2 days...woooooowww...no wonder he was tired.

He made his way to his cabin, his bunk and collapsed....he could get yelled at later...he needed sleep... caf could wait til morning....


	27. Snoke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snoke sat on his golden throne surrounded by red, it made him feel like the room was bleeding. His clawlike skeletal fingers were decorated with jewels, his skin purpled and looked like it was rotting, with holes in a few places, he was ancient, he had survived several attempts on his life over the years,...they had not gotten far.

He remembered his apprentice was supposed to report in soon, the knights had already done so.

Where was the petulant brat?

He had been distracted lately, he couldn't reach his mind recently...he didn't have the power to block him out, ...he would break him a bit when he did...remind him.

The darkness was always hungry, he would feed it well....


	28. As I lay dying

Wars are evolving living things, they just seem to keep going under different names.

The resistance and the First Order have been at it long enough this round that both have plenty of of blood on their hands to share.

Both are so sure their right and the other is wrong,..neither are right.

There is no balance while they bicker.

Snoke thrives on it, it swirls up more darkness within hearts on both sides, blackened souls fed to the machine of battle.

Kylo lay on this muddy grave contemplating,...he collapsed finally after taking on way too many, this planet didn't want to give in, join the order, so they had been flattened, all their remaining resources would be collected, troops left to monitor, prinsoners sent off to be more troopers or slaves. He lay there bleeding from multiple injuries, these beings hadn't been utterly helpless, the resistance had been limited in their presence,...But had aided them for a while.

He lay back and let his eyes close, he almost wanted death, he was tired of this endless pointless fight.

Since the day he came to Snoke it had been constant death...unending pain...promises never fulfilled...a sea of torment. He had sliced through so many just because...he was haunted by their faces... because in those innocent faces he saw her.

His toxic compassion forever weakened him, his knights did not seem to suffer the same affliction. They killed without a thought, except for young Alex, but he had been going through extra training lately to snuff that out.

They had not found Skywalker, each of them found places he stopped in ...but he was always freshly gone.

Kylo avoided reporting to Snoke, his master had punished him regularly lately and he was in no condition for a dose of his brand of education.

He felt a familiar warmth sweep over him, it started at his cheek... ending at his toes, he felt a light caress, like someone was petting him, running a hand through his caked hair. The warmth grew more intense, the bleeding stopped, the openings were closing, his bruises lightened.

...a sweet voice echoed..."can't leave you alone for a second can I?"

How she healed him from so far away he had no clue, but he felt comforted and lifted, he was awed by her.

His gentle fierce angel.

He rose to his feet, made his way back to his shuttle.

...in his euphoria he hadn't felt the presence...Ria had seen his fall, had seen him near lost, then felt the power enter his body...saw him act like it never happened. Hmmmmm... Supreme Leader would want to know.....she returned to her and Oro's hidden ship,...their master didn't require saving from them...interesting...


	29. Alex

His recent training had been vulgar, he was thrust into fighting constantly either against waves of troopers or against Kylo himself, Snoke had brought him in and told him how weak he was, weakest of the Rens, he shot his lightning at him when he hesitated a killing blow.

He gave him personal lessons in torture, Hux was a helpful tutor for this fun, prisoners were given to test him.

His resolve wavered when his subjects changed from men to women....his skin had been ripped from his back by the whip when tears fell.

They threw a child at his feet, he had gagged, he could not do such a thing, ...but his body became not his own...and he watched himself do horrific things...

...this would stain him....

There was no going back...

He could see why the others had chose to turn off their humanity, to just exist...

...staring at the small mutilated corpse his mind broke...

his heart stopped...

Snoke had cackled in victory over him.

He knew he didn't belong to himself anymore, he was just a shell now, and would act as such....


	30. Welcome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Home is where the heart is, right? Rey wonders as she totters around Ben's quarters...she had added some color, it had been so drab, he had been there less and less because Snoke kept sending him away, she just knew she didn't want to know for what purposes...but she kept feeling it when he got hurt...she kept fixing him to his surprise...

Gillian truly enjoyed Rey, or Miss Rey as he called her...it had been a while since he had a lady of the house to look after...she was the closest thing to one in so long.

Master Ben's quarters weren't extravagant but he made them as homey as possible, and Rey made them more so. She lit up the room when she entered.

Gillian felt such calm around her, he knew Ben did as well, he could sense his nervousness in her presence, she did not seem to have the same issue.

He fetched her books constantly, she was always reading them too fast, noone bothered them.

Either Ben had hidden her well, or noone on the ship cared.

Her bare feet patted around happily, she wore the simpler dresses, and sometimes master's tshirts. She drew and painted beautiful scenery and decorated every room, ...she had expanded her flower collection and now pots were in most corners, the servant caught her talking to her plant friends often, they grew more daily.

Ben noticed ...but didnt say anything, whatever pleased her seemed to please him.

She discussed history with him daily, ever full of questions...

...when Ben was gone longer than a week she would pace a bit...

...when he came in staggering or hurt badly...she was livid and tended to him herself...he saw no bandages or bacta used but his master was always improved or cured quickly...he knew her talents were to thank.

He saw such softness in his master's eyes around her, he listened intently when she shared her days with him, he admired every bit she added to his space.

One night she had made him dance with her around his room, clumsily but it was sweet to watch...simple treasures...it made him remember Anakin and Padme...he had looked like he thought if he touched her she would break... it was curious....

He saw something....but he never brought it up to either of them....it would be blessing and a curse he knew....


	31. Finn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He had stared in disbelief as the trooper they snagged told them of her death. He sputtered that Kylo Ren had interrogated her himself and when he didn't get anything out of her,... he'd butchered her. Han had to make him move, they knocked out the man, left him in a storage closet,...they had to continue with their mission...so many depended on them...this death machine had to be destroyed. But...she was his first friend...his heart hurt.

Han had made him go through the motions, they had placed and set the charges, Poe had helped...shooting up the joint as well,...Han had seemed just as distracted, kept talking about finding his son.

That he had promised Leia to try.

But Finn wondered when he'd been taken prinsoner, because he had always heard from Poe and others Kylo Ren had killed the boy years ago, ...misinformation maybe...he had never heard or seen Kylo be merciful...he had watched him order an entire village murdered...he doubted the boy was still alive.

He would never say that to his comrade though. Hope was something he wouldn't take from anyone on purpose.

They heard Ren had left to head to the Finalizer, Hux as well... evacuating ?

They saw the writing on the wall he supposed, as they flew away on the Falcon watching the skin of the planet crack and throb...then explode...he let a sigh of relief escape his lips...

...then he thought of Rey, frowning...

...it was his fault...

...Poe's fault she had even been part of this mess...

She had seemed happy in her simple life...they had forced her out of it....


	32. Knights of Ren

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben woke to his uncle above him, lightsaber bright with intention...his jerk reaction was to call his own to his hand, use his power to push the man away...his heart full of disbelief...he used a bit too much and blew his hut up. Other students came running, attacking him...a handful fought against those....he saw the more dark inclined savagely cut the young ones down, seemed to relish it...the voice in his head told him to come...told him where to run to...the smoke was so thick now, bodies littered the ground...blood smeared children standing over the fallen...Luke under the rubble...he saw 6 board a shuttle, ...Lillian, Alec, Gregory, Ban, Rolier, and Jerian hurried away, he wondered where...he got in a smaller shuttle, set course, and left the destruction behind, tears streaming down his cheeks....

Snoke had whispered such promises of power to the children...

...they were guided to him when the attack finally happened...

...giving him the opportunity to collect them.

Ben Solo was his main desire but the others would come in handy.

When they arrived without Solo he had been annoyed....he baptized them in blood, giving each a new name...he sicked troopers on them as they kneeled...so yound and stupid he thought.

He was entertained as they killed, slicing off limbs ...cruelty he loved.

He saw potential.

They would be his wardogs...his Knights of Ren...they would learn to live in shadow, how to use the force in obscene ways, inventive means to subdue his enemies.

He punished compassion, they would learn to be numb, to lose whatever made them a self.

The youngest had been Alex, at 13 he would take the most work, the oldest Ria was 19, and starved for death....she was a masterpiece in the making...her eyes already looked almost black...

The training started immediately...it perturbed him his prize was late..he couldn't sense him right now, his connection was severed, he was sure the boy couldn't do that, he didn't have the ability, it would pass...he would arrive soon, he desired power too much not to, he would require extra attention...he would be Sith, his apprentice would be loyal to him alone, he knew conflict lingered...he would dispose of his remaining sliver of light in due time....but he was worth it...the power in the boy was unmatched... equal to if not more than his Vader..such a delicious bloodline...

Luke had disappointed...declined his offer years before...he would be dead soon....

...but this one...he had been poisoning from the womb... crouching in his mind his whole life thus far...twisting every positive to negative...

...when he was forced to go to the academy he made sure Ben pushed away everyone...his solitude was key to keeping him feeling rejected and feared...

...the future was his...

...the universe would bow to his armies...

...his knights would make them all cower...

...he was their master...

...he would be master of them all....


	33. A mother's  love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leia had asked, begged Han to bring him home if he saw him...their Ben...their baby boy...now a man...what would the resistance think of her if they knew her Ben was Kylo Ren...the masked monster who had levelled whole civilizations for his master, killed men...women...children...blank of emotion. She knew they had failed him when he was young...left him vulnerable to Snoke...she had hoped Luke could help him...being at the academy had just made it worse...

The universe had turned on her when they were shown Vader was her biological father...Leia had not reacted well...and her own child had suffered ridicule too.

He was treated with such cruelty. It had only opened the boy up more for darkness to fester.

Han had been right, they should have stuck it out, loved him more.

Han hadn't seen him on Starkiller, he had been remorseful...she knew he would have tried.

Her heart ached for her child, ...she felt sick when she'd heard he had killed the girl...Finn was missing his friend terribly. The poor young woman never stood a chance. But the enemy didn't get the map to Luke,...not that it mattered, her long lost sibling came to her.

The First Order had been relentless...ruthless at every turn...their numbers were dwindling and hope was limited...

yet...she still thought of his small face, dark eyes, sweet smile, the sound of his heartbeat,...the feel of small hands in hers as she cradled her boy...

she loved him...

...the boy

...the monster...

she prayed he wasn't truly lost....


	34. What the hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux had stayed clear of Kylo Ren successfully for a pleasant amount of time...But now Supreme Leader Snoke had noticed...his absence...

There had been rebellions popping up all over...with the resistance left to so few it made no sense...but there was Skywalker...

Intel showed evidence of him travelling non-stop lately. He was supposedly searching for something or someone, the general really didn't care except his stops typically were followed with a group feeling more confident in their disenchantment with the Order. Costing him troops...Costing him ammo, costing him credits and time...the Knights had been sent out constantly in response...Kylo included...but Snoke was convinced the master of the Rens was avoiding him.

A thorn in his side, he had been tasked to find out why.

Lovely...he had a pretty good theory it stemmed from the prisoner Kylo had lied about killing...he hadn't seen a trace of her since he witnessed him carrying her to his shuttle that day. He had been given a false report of her death by one of his underlings...he had simply nodded. There hadn't even been a name on the report, she was no one apparently...and since Skywalker had left wherever he'd been hiding the map wasn't a concern anymore....Ren's man servant had ordered odd things though, he wasn't a complete dumbass, he knew the woman was being kept up quietly in the knight's own quarters.

When Kylo was back from a mission, beyond reports and updates with he himself...he hadn't lingered anywhere. He also had stopped randomly attacking troopers, destroying things, and being short with Hux.

It was a nice state of affairs...but now he had to be nosy...he did not want to be...he didn't want in Kylo's business anymore than he wanted him in his.

He rounded the corner to arrive at the man's quarters....sighing....


	35. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He hesitated outside Ren's quarters, he knew for sure Kylo was still gone, he had been sent to the Outer Rim. But he wasn't sure what he expected to be here. Gillian received Hux reluctantly, he wouldn't have convinced the man to let him enter, but a kind voice behind him told him to allow it....

Hux walked in the main area slowly, glancing around....it was bright and full of flowers and art...yep....not typically what Kylo had.

She had made herself at home.

He had let her.

Then he saw her..."this is Miss Rey sir," Gillian introduced her politely, then left the room per her motion.

The general found her soothing... like a gentle breeze. She was wearing a light green dress, her bare feet crossed as she sat on the small couch, there was a small bright purple blossom behind her ear...but it was her eyes that captivated him....emerald and golden....

...he couldn't look away.

Or apparently speak, ..."I am..." he started...

" you are General Hux,... I know" she had cut him off....

"yes I am, and it is a pleasure Miss Rey. I see you have made your surroundings more comfortable, I trust all is well to your liking..." he continued.

"You have left quite an impression on our Master of the Knights of Ren, he has never kept a guest....or shown much interest in much of anyone or anything...besides battle."

She cocked her head and grinned, "you don't usually either general, except for Miss Leona, she dreams about you often..."

He was startled, as far as he knew, Ren wouldn't have cared enough to find out his whore's name,...he hadn't told anyone about keeping her on the ship..but the girl mentioned dreams....

"I see the gears moving in your head, lol, Kylo doesn't know anything about your friend. But he would be relieved to know she was alive... " she seemed quite amused.

"You have the force like he does... hmmmm....it's why he's been hiding you." He stated.

He knew now, yes Kylo had probably been avoiding the Supreme Leader, worried he would dig out the girl's presence from his mind. Her power would interest Snoke, his interest was generally painful or deadly...

She looked at him concerned, "you don't want to hate Kylo, or me, you just don't want your master to punish you for not tattling..."

She touched his hand, he didn't jerk away, this was so unfamiliar, ...foreign.

He felt calm come over him, his worries seemed to hop away...

"he can't read these memories, any of me...in you or Kylo, or anyone...I don't allow him to."

Was that possible? How much power would one need for that? As far as he knew Snoke was all-powerful...old, immortal, impossible....

" he is not immortal Hux, he can die...it's just harder to accomplish than with most beings...he is full of dark power, the force aches from him bending it...abusing it...I have kept Leona safe from him for you..."

"I am not sure of any of this, I was not expecting this conversation, I presumed wrongly Ren had finally taken a fancy to a woman, not this...do you understand fully what he is, who he is, what he does when he walks out that door away from...you? He is death...unyielding."

" I have known him for who he can be since he was 17, ... I was 5 when I touched his heart, ...I kept Snoke from inhaling his soul completely... we both forgot a while...well I did, but the force works in mysterious ways... and brought me back to him, he got very lost, he still is, darkness is seductive...I see him...all of him...don't doubt that..." she assured the stunned man before her.

" What is to keep me from giving you to Snoke myself?" He mused.

"Absolutely nothing, but I know you won't. You have sins you want washed away...we all do...you wouldn't be here if you had any desire to harm me. It's one of the few kind things you've done against a long history of brutality and blood. You are not completely lost either...Snoke likes to convince you all that you are...I can give you relief from that."

He knew....

He wouldn't give her to his master, anymore than Kylo would,...

...well damn, what now.....


	36. Why

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey woke up cozy with him...she hadn't realized he'd come back, and had fell asleep in his bed reading. She noticed he'd made sure to stay as close the his side as possible, clinging to the edge. It was sweet, he apparently hadn't wanted to disturb her or invade her space...

She sat up and looked over him, looking at his intoxicating form she couldn't help but feel like he wasn't capable of the acts he had committed...

...but she understands...

...he was....

...he was as Hux said...

...he had been Snoke's hand of death for so many for so long...

...all the knights had been...

...she let her fingers push his loose hair from his forehead, holding her breath...he was so beautiful to her, she had found him to be when she didn't remember him at all...when he'd clicked the mask off per her request in the interrogation room.

Right here and now his whole body was peaceful...the nightmares weren't plaguing him....the squatter wasn't whispering evil nothings in his ear...he was hers...well so to speak...

She needed to leave here soon, she knew, she needed to speak to Luke...he had answers to a few things...he had some of the ancient books of the jedi she needed.

Ben would not like it....that conversation was coming though, but for now she would let him rest...she curled her hand into his and gently laid her head over his chest, his heartbeat made her feel at home...


	37. Washed clean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He would be arriving back at the Finalizer soon, his mind was so full...but thankfully empty of Snoke. He hadn't been breathing down his neck as much, there had been too much going on, too many directions to be pulled. He had to cut Alex's private training with him down, all the Knights had been sent out to quell upheavals, they were stretched far too thin, if it wasn't for Rey he probably would have died purely from exhaustion...

When he docked he could think of nothing else, he reported to Hux,...who had been quite hospitable for once... updated him on their progress taming the far reaches...and headed to his quarters...

He needed to see her....be in her sight....he needed her silent acceptance....he needed her eyes....he sounded like a love sick fool, it didn't matter.

He remembered the first time he'd felt her, seen her, when she'd taken his hand without pause,....she had been so innocent...at that young age he had already been molested by the dark into something twisted.

He knew he could hide nothing from her, he didn't bother to try now, her power matched and exceeded his.

She constantly amazed him, it was like the light and darkness both catered to her whims...giving her anything...balanced within, rather than being at odds like they were inside him. Her force energy was beautiful.

Their bond, he discovered was a force bond, it happened sometimes long ago between master and apprentice, or between lovers...they were neither at the moment. It could not be broken except through death, but it was also unlikely the survivor would last long if their counterpart died. They could be forged through trauma.

When he pushed into her mind she had pushed hard back, her powers had reawakened in response to him...and their bond showed itself.

But she had always been with him, ever since he'd first met her, her eyes had stayed with him.

As it was, she kept in contact with him whetever he went, it didn't seem to matter how far...she felt it if he needed healing or just a kind thought. Snoke would want her as his, or dead...there wasn't a middle ground. He had to keep her safe, he just had to. She kept telling him his master was clueless mostly, that yes he had felt her power resurface, but he wouldn't be able to find her or hurt her.

It didn't soothe him.

He entered and found her sleeping....in his bed rather than the closet..., that's a first....he saw the new plants, his quarters really were getting to look like a garden...he chuckled low, he didn't mind, ...he inched forward.

She had one foot that had escaped the covers and he could tell she had one of his t-shirts on...he wondered if it made her feel closer to him...he hoped anyway.

Sitting on the edge of his bed, he leaned lower and kissed her head, she didn't wake but he felt so content.

If he was honest with himself he would admit he loved her, that this noone scavenger, the girl from the island, was someone to him...was important to him. She made his fractured spirit whole. He couldn't say it out loud, but he thinks he could maybe soon.

He got up, used the fresher, threw on sleeping pants and laid next to her...it was still his bed after all, he would be a gentleman.

He got as close as he could without touching her, their bond hummed. He took a deep breath and closed his heavy eyelids, he was so tired...he had an audience with Snoke in the morning....he was not looking forward to it.


	38. It burns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His mind was a deranged hole, his nightmares had always driven him almost utterly mad.. always driving his saber through someone...his mother...his father...Rey....so many more...even his own knights weren't safe....the faces of years of victims haunted his every breath...he saw the light leave their eyes, their limbs fall away....insides piling on ground....he saw himself rip a heart out with his bare hand, breaking bones, severing the heads of anyone who spoke against the Order....he saw acts he never committed but feared he could....the ravaging of an unresponsive partner, desperate to escape but him frothy to dissect her so roughly she bled....broken....mind shattered just as brutally....the things the monster would or could do...the creature Snoke wanted him to be....he saw himself doing the unspeakable acts his knights had done front of him....then his mind would twist and it would be Rey's form writhing beneath him...screaming for release...pounding at his chest...scratching and clawing to escape his clutches...he would wake soaked in sweat...tears in his creases, shamed...he was the monster, he had been the creature in so many ways....his rage always so close to tipping over a slippery edge...

He blinked as he realized they were landing.

He wouldn't let her touch him, he placed her binders back on...reminding her that his knights were placed nearby ...watching ...waiting for any excuse to spring....he sent word he would be entering the base to Ria, that they were to remain where they were until he notified them he had Skywalker and they would all depart.

The exchange was necessary and they were to adhere to Supreme Leader Snoke's instructions....he sent word to General Organa they were ready to emerge, to make sure her fighters didn't fire no matter how confused they were to what was about to step down that ramp....

"here we go Rey, I hope this shit doesn't explode in our face!"

She only smiled....he hadn't spoken the words....neither had she... not really but it was there simmering....

...but he knew he could undo her if he let himself...

He could...it made him cringe.....

The ramp lowered....as promised Leia received them herself.... motioned him to follow her into the bay door....she didn't react to Rey's state at all...the doors closed behind them....

"hello Kylo Ren, thankyou for agreeing to the trade, now may we get on with it?"

She nodded as Luke approached with the others,...who were all now ghostly white faced staring at the most feared evil in the galaxy... besides Snoke himself...and the girl in binders who hadn't budged....their stonefaced general looked completely unaffected...which made it even wierder...

"hello mother. " he replied.

"But you can refer to me as Ben, or have you forgotten the child you bore....that you abandoned....that you preferred to state was dead...because of what he became...?" He spit it out with distain....

He removed his mask with a familiar hiss, ran his hand over Rey's binders setting her free.

Everyone gasped.

Finn was speechless...

Ben was Kylo....Kylo was Ben....the general's son....

the man who ordered entire villages murdered....

who had almost killed him....

so many....

who had apparently kept his friend all this time,... he was furious....and so confused.

But why was Kylo Ren here? Why was Rey alive, what the hell was happening....and he could tell he wasn't the only one fighting this internal battle...but Rey simply walked over to Finn and hugged him like it had only been a day,... like death wasn't standing two feet away and the end of the world wasn't waiting outside for HIS order!

Well just...fuck! ...and he hugged her back happily....thankful.

"thankyou for bringing her home," he mouthed hesitantly in Kylo's direction,"....Ben Solo!"


	39. Pack up and go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gillian was rushed, master Ben seemed quite anxious and told him he would explain if he ever saw him again....but that he was to get all belongings for Rey too. They would not be returning.....

When Ben came in and finished instructing Gillian, Rey had seemed unsurprised and ready.

She simply told him, "and he thought you wouldn't be willing to go..." and laughed a little.

....he had asked her who....

...and she replied, " well Anakin of course, your grandfather....we need to find Luke..."

With that she motioned to head out to the hanger, she had binders on the chair....picked them up and clicked them on her wrists...

"we must keep up appearances right?" And smiled brightly at him....so he just followed along trying to look intimidating...


	40. Leona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She pretty much sat in her small quarters when he didn't send for her. It wasn't exciting, but it was living...she had what she needed, a bit more than that. The general had been kind, even after what the knights had done to her, he'd not given her to his officers with the other two girls....he had sent her to the medbay, then she woke to being in a soft bed. Alone.

He came to her the following day, just to see how she felt, to make sure she didn't need anything...it was not the norm to say the least...she found out the other two had entertained his officers and had been sent back to their owner paid, the other 3 dead...and disposed of....from their interactions with the knights...they had been brutal to her but at least she was alive...she had credits as her payment and her owner informed of her remaining on staff a while longer...

...this Hux was a stern man, he was ruthless against his enemies or anyone he felt were against the First Order.

She herself didn't care about politics, her mother had worked in a brothel, so she ended up doing her same work eventually, cleaning and tending to small things until her time came...it kept clothes on her back and fed...her previous clients however weren't like the dark things she met here.

Their appetite had not been explained to the girls at all, she felt for the dead. They really were nothing...to them...to most beings....but he spoke to her plainly, asked if she wanted to serve just him for a time, and that it wouldn't even be daily because he was very busy pretty much constantly, his needs were probably boring compared to her experience , but he needed release sometimes, he needed someone not to ask for anything more.

So far he had her give him head several times, had her lay in his lap and as he pet her hair as he read, she had bathed with him once and washed him, and they'd eaten together, a bit of regular old fashioned sex, but nothing violent or cruel.

He preferred her quiet, he argued most of the time with everyone else...she gave him what he wanted and he seemed pleased, she even enjoyed herself. It had been a while since she'd actually orgasmed from a client, that was new.

He hadn't brought up when she was going back, so she didn't either, her dreams were silly she knew but couldn't help herself.

In her sleep she thought of being his wife, having a real home, making love like real people...she had never had that...fairytales could be so endearing...she overheard snippets of his work, his armies were always trying to drive the resistance back, squash some rebellious planet.

She didn't care as long as he kept her there and away from reality. ...


	41. Travelling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke had gone to his sister reluctantly, he had not faced her since his nephew had turned on him... and well all of them....going to Snoke with a handful of his students...his academy had been left in ashes, everyone but him dead....if they'd realized he was alive under the rubble he may not walked away either...

He knew they had to move alot because the First Order kept finding them, but this jungle crap planet was miserable, so humid, it truly made him miss the rain of his island hideaway...he had cut himself off from the force to live in peace...but the force wouldn't be ignored any longer.

He made a few stops on the way, his ship only got him so far...he had to get a better one....his had been under the water too long...and it was simply too old...

Han had offered to come meet him when they spoke, but Luke needed that time alone to think.

Leia would be happy to see him regardless, he was her family...he had missed her. It had been selfish to vanish, to hide, it had been shameful...and that wasn't all he was ashamed of...he had to tell her about the power surge, it had to be an awakening, she had to have felt it as well, Snoke probably had too and his knights... including Ben...

He wondered about Ben....he heard a few things about the now Kylo Ren on his stops and the progress of the dominant First Order. No one knew where it had come from, the surge he'd felt, force-sensitives had become quite rare...it seemed Snoke sought to eradicate them all, as powerful as Ben had been in the dark when he was young, it amazed him the old coot had kept him alive.

But he controlled him still, so maybe he was still useful...this surge had been dominately light in nature...he wondered if it was in response to his nephew's power.

Maz in her ancient wisdom told him he would not expect the package the power came in, but would wouldn't tell him what she meant. That Ben Solo was key to finding the source, that he was part of it.

He did not see that, Ben had been lost long ago...he was lost to them...

He trudged along knocking through the thick growth,...it stung his skin...then he finally came upon the small hidden base, he saw Leia...she had felt him approach...

he prepared for her wrath...

what he got was a hug...


	42. Friendly ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey had heard of force ghosts, she read a lot of references to their existance... she knew Ben constantly tried to communicate with his grandfather, but she wasn't sure how one got them to answer....

She felt strange one afternoon while Gillian was running errands,...she had been thinking about Ben and how he talked to his dead grandfather trying to find answers...as far as she could tell he never answered him...she knew it hurt him...he was desperate for answers sometimes... the old mutilated mask he talked to though was kinda creepy.

His grandfather had been a great dark master but before that a jedi, he was Luke Skywalker's father...she hadn't told him she'd figured out Leia and Han were his parents, she had seen his memories with them....she was clipping dead leaves off one of her flowered treasures when the voice had spoke...

"hello Rey, how are you my dear, and how is my grandson?"

She had been surprised but smiled, "I'm ok, he is...mostly ok, why don't you answer him when he calls to you?"

He gave her a knowing look, "he talks to Darth Vader, I am Anakin, I have watched over him....but I haven't agreed with his choices, he hadn't been ready to hear me until recently..."

She was about to respond but he continued, "besides I am here for you right now...you are like I was, only more... the force gave you to this universe, an answer to its prayer...where Ben has been death you will be life...his heart is changing, you are creating change, my son will help you too. You need to go to him, Ben will not want you to, and he is not ready to go with you, ...but to get the answers you need you must leave here...and find Luke..."

She opened her mouth to argue despite knowing it was truth, and he was gone....cryptic ghosts....perfect......


	43. Bow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What makes you subservient....what draws anyone to give away your free will, to comply without question...to be a shadow of yourself?

Kylo reluctantly made his way to his audience with the Supreme Leader Snoke.

He pushed his frustration about Skywalker evading them and his desire for power to the forefront of his mind, locked his thoughts of Rey as far back as he could, it had worked before so he hoped his luck would hold.

He just didn't know why he was even here anymore.

What was his purpose?

He wanted power, yes, but did it matter?

Snoke had convinced him by his side was the only place he was welcome. That darkness was all he had within, to embrace it. He was unsure. But he has always been conflicted, always felt torn...what would happen now...

Rey had changed the game, her presence changed everything he thought he knew....and all he'd truly been given here was death, brutality, neglect, cruelty, torture, ....pain.... and loneliness....


	44. Bend a knee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux was finishing updating the Supreme Leader about Skywalker. The knights had each found information on his various stops....but had always been a step behind...the resistance oddly had been quiet, their numbers too few...except the spurts of fighting caused by Luke's presence here and there...Kylo Ren had not found him but had obliterated multiple beginnings of rebellion. Snoke seemed unconcerned...Hux watched as Ren entered....supposing it was his turn....

"My good and faithful apprentice kneel and I will welcome you...."

"General thankyou as always for your due-diligence, you may go...do keep me appraised of changes..." he motioned for Kylo to rise and waited for Hux to exit before he spoke again...

"you have been busy my apprentice, have you found the source of the awakening? It has great potential, the being is predominantly light but can be turned and used for my purposes. I can see it is female, but i can not see a face...very strange...my power isn't blocked easily....it is intriguing...I am hungry to find them."

Kylo nodded, he knew his master was very powerful, but was Rey really more than him? Or was the Force itself so displeased that it protected her....?

"master, my knights and I have been tracking Skywalker, he appears to search for this being as well...it eludes him, it doesn't seem to want to be found by the dark or the light."

Snoke shifted, "you are hiding something...why.....I know about the girl Ren, you didn't hide her from me....someone informed me you let a prisoner live, even after you got nothing from her...your weakness... your pathetic compassion...has she become your whore? Is that why you've been avoiding me? You will bring her here, you will kill her in front of me...and prove you are loyal...or would you rather kill your worthless father...or relentlessly hopeful mother?"

He flicked his hand and shot lightning at Kylo knocking him to the ground...

"master,"...he was breathless with pain, "she is nothing, just something to pass the time, do with her what you will, I do not care what happens to the smuggler or the princess either...if they were here I would end them without hesitation..."

....raising up," let me find Skywalker and get the source of your question for you, have I not taken everything...proved my loyalty....can I not continue to do so?"

Snoke gave him a slight reprieve , " I sense your resolve to please me, your appetite for power measures above everything else...yes you will kill the girl yourself or give her to your knights to do as they will, ...minus the distraction you will get the latest update on Skywalker's movements from general Hux and find him"

...he motioned away," do not disappoint me again!"

...Kylo hurried away to find Hux....


	45. Cheers to surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo dashed out as quick as his weakened body could muster without looking suspicious. He searched out Hux, the general had already retired to his quarters..this early? ....very odd for him...he was obsessed with everything going on with his ship....his troops...

Hux knew Ren was in for it with their master....

He had not seemed in a forgiving mood, he had slammed him to the floor at least once for not making more progress with Skywalker, the general had tried to collect himself when the knight arrived for his turn.

He needed a bit of indulgence, he sent for Leona, she was waiting on him when he arrived....she immediately attended to removing his uniform and shoes and guided him to his bed, encouraging him to lay on his stomach....she started rubbing his back....so thoughtful.... trying to knead his day away....it was already horrible and it was barely morning...he had things to do but he frankly needed a moment....

When he heard his door swish open it made him jerk....

"Hux! Where the fuck are you? Why are you in your quarters already, the Supreme Leader wants you to give me the latest updated information on Skywalker....I am to depart soon to go after him......!" Kylo blurted out and cut himself off when he found the general....

"well Ren I wanted to relax, I do require that at times, believe it or not,...I guess you may recognize my...friend...I trust your discretion at her presence as I have told noone of your guest..."...he never sat up just continued enjoying her attention to detail....

"as you can see I could no more stomach her pain than you that night....and besides, your Rey is kind, I am not a danger to your arrangement."

Absorbing what the redhead was saying..."you've known this whole time? You talked with her?"

"Yes, I am not a complete bloodthirsty prick...I am not one of your knights.....she truly sees you boy, I hope you see that...Snoke would use her or kill her but she has no fear...it is remarkable." He collected himself and dismissed Leona, " I will see you later dear, go enjoy a bath or a nap..."

Kylo looked stunned, "I have misjudged you Hux, how does Snoke not see your treacherous existance?"

"I have learned to protect myself in a limited way, but it isn't strong enough if he were to push hard into my mind....I give him no reason to...I take his punishments, I do his bidding mostly, I squabble with his favorite...you, I kiss his demented ass...and I survive another day."...he offered a chair to his guest.

"She is something new, your Rey, I know you feel it, I know little of the force but I was charmed and I would do no harm to her, ....she has protected the whore you know, saw her dreams or something and decided to shield her from our master, as she shields herself....how much power in the force is required to do that Ren? To hide from someone as deeply imbedded with the dark side who seems to feel and know everything most if the time?"

"Honestly I don't know, I really don't know anything anymore..." Kylo looked defeated."what intel do you have on Skywalker? ... and....Do you know who may have hinted about me keeping a prisoner to our master?"

Hux sighed, "I would keep closer tabs on Ria, and as to Skywalker last information says he is that he stopped at a jungle planet near the edge of space, the resistance is probably there.YOUR mother and father are supposedly there as well, ...yes I know who you were before you became Kylo Ren, I am a bastard...you are a prince...Ben Solo. You need to take Miss Rey with you when you leave, your quarters will probably be checked the second you leave....I cannot act like I know or am sympathetic....the best way I can help you or her is to project business as usual. "

Kylo took it all in, gathered the intel and swept out towards his own quarters....


	46. Blocked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke was stuck it seemed, the resistance was being blockaded by First Order ships, ... they hadn't fired yet, but their numbers steadily increased. Several dreadnoughts were in place....what in the stars was the deal....there were less than 50 rebels here? They had to know he was there....no one had come to surface....it seemed they were waiting....

Hux told Kylo the fleet was in place, all intel said Luke was still planetside, the few rebels and his parents were holded up in a rundown old base from empire times...no troopers had been sent down but his knigts had all arrived, they were placed in strategic locations making sure noone left.

He was to arrange a trade with the girl for Luke Skywalker....or at least that's what the knights of Ren were told to keep them at bay.

The trade to be done by their master alone...the attack would commence as soon as Kylo subdued their prize.

The Supreme Leader had loved the plan....all his enemies destroyed in one swoop...and his apprentice would prove his worth...he had been slightly miffed when he had left with the girl...but reports of her being dragged out in binders assisted the lie...at least the no one would play a useful part before her death....

Ria Ren was the only one that had been reacting oddly, she seemed skeptical that Kylo would complete his task, he told her to be the one to take care of the girl herself because his prioritiy had to be Skywalker per Snoke...thay had appeased her doubts...but she had to wait until he and Skywalker cleared the hanger....his knights saw no movement outside of the base....

Kylo was maybe 15 minutes away...


	47. Moment of weakness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She hadn't reacted at all as he roughly dragged her by the binders to his personal shuttle, it was all as discussed...she even fought back a bit receiving a smack across the cheek for good measure...Hux had updated him at the ship's ramp about the trade and status of the fleet and knights, he glared down at her and called her scum...with a disgusted smirk...but she caught his wink...

The moment the ramp lifted and she was seated, Ben was at her feet, he released the binders with the force and kissed her wrists, his hand trailed up to her red cheek, ...he was appalled with himself.

She looked down at him affectionately sending calm and love into him, his eyes were so sullen.

She reassured him it had to be convincing, she closed her eyes, a light glow came over her whole body startling him...her bruises all vanished...she leaned down and lightly pressed her lips to his....

"it is all going to be alright Ben...you are going home, and Snoke will never be the wiser..."

Kylo truly felt hope then, in her eyes he saw forgiveness....he felt like she was trying to give that peace to him from the entire universe.. for all his evil deeds....

"always call me Ben....Kylo Ren died today...you have resurrected Ben Solo..."....he collapsed on her lap, on his knees he submitted fully to her ...her light, his love, his angel ....she sent a message to Leia about the plan....they weren't thrilled, but Finn and Han were so ecstatic about her being alive and having young Solo to thank and helping ...the arguments had been short-lived.

Luke told them he felt no threat of betrayal from it, so they all prepared for quite the show....


	48. Hello father

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke hasn't thought about his father in quite a stretch , but recent events with Ben brought him to mind. He apparently didn't kill the girl he stole and interrogated....and was now helping the resistance? Of course these people were happy she was alive, noone knew who Ben was...they thought he had been killed by Kylo Ren like so many others. Leia and Han had never enlightened anyone that Kylo Ren was their son Ben Solo who had literally fallen so far into the darkside years ago that it had been easier for them to think of him as dead. Of course he always wore a mask he'd heard...took on the persona of a creature as leader of Snoke's Knights of Ren...so most wouldn't know him as anything different....

Luke felt that power closer than it had been, so whoever the force had closen to wield it was not far...it wouldn't be Ben....he felt his distinct power signature...though his had changed a bit....could it be within the girl?

Is that why Kylo/Ben couldn't complete his task on Starkiller....had been protecting her?

Had he truly started turning back to the light?

He just wasn't so easily convinced...he sensed other less vivid dark signatures on the planet....probably the knights...waiting to pounce....

Leia wanted to hear him out....

He sat alone thinking, "No hello to your dear old dad son?...looking up he saw a young man....not the less human version of his father...it wasn't the version who had saved him...who he held as life left him....who he burned on the pyre on Endor.

"Hello father...this is unexpected.... you've never come to me before..."

The the man just grinned, "you haven't needed me son. Today you do..."

"it's because of my nephew...your grandson isn't it...?" Luke asked.

"Yes and no my boy, young Ben made similar mistakes differently than I did...he let the darkness overtake him.... succumbed to promises of peace within and power...lies of course...Snoke is a great manipulation master...empty promises...but my reason to be here is the girl, Rey, she is coming to you...they require your help to fix this mess, she is like me...the force created her...but she is more than I was....a true uncorrupted conduit light in the force my son, her power is growing constantly and Snoke will know of her soon.her power is about to become so great it won't be hidden much longer..... our Ben can corrupt her...he hasn't...he has actually been in a process of healing because of her....but it could turn quickly in the opposite direction if not properly guided..."

Luke realized he was going to get to play teacher again....not sure if he was up for this massive task...


	49. Gontra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gontra, Faree, Slatten, and Alex had touched down first, then sent to their points to wait,....Ria and Oro arrived not longer after ....they got rewarded with waiting...told only not to engage the enemy yet...there was a plan in place. They were to allow the shift of Skywalker into Kylo Ren's hands, and let the prisoner girl go to the resistance. All of them were a bit taken aback...Skywalker was supposed to be this big prize...powerful jedi master...why would the resistance give him up for some girl....a noone. Ria didn't buy it....

" It makes no sense !"

She yelled at Oro, "there's more to this..., she was supposed to be dead anyway....Kylo lied about killing her at Starkiller...to both sides...to what ...fuck her ? No, that's not a good enough reason, he's shown no interest in that sense...ever...!"

She felt jerked around..., she knew something was up.

Oro Ren simply huffed, "dunno Ria, maybe he just didn't meet a pussy he liked, until that dirty scavenger...I heard he got nothing from her during her interrogation...that's never happened to our master...he's been able rip through any mind with ease.. maybe her fighting back did it for him...talk is he kept her in his own quarters chained up, because no one saw hide nor hair of her for months... dragged her in binders to his ship on his way to head here. ...even smacked her in front of the whole hanger...and Hux....she fought a little but mostly looked bent to his will...." he continued..." he's always been more withdrawn than the rest of us, more private.... other than us and Snoke... I don't think anyone knows who he was before...he just wanted his toy to himself...we've kept a few prisoners like that ourselves for bits after the celebrations Snoke rewards us with.....maybe o' Kylo Ren wasn't interested in the merchandise til he found that lil dirty desert snatch..."

Ria commed Gontra, "any movement on your end?"

Gontra replied, " no, and I'm bored, why are we here if we don't get to go in and massacre the lot of them bastards? I want to kill something, everything I've heard says we're trading those two and leaving...the fleet may bomb 'em, but then why make us all come? It make not a damn bit of sense.....!"

Ria reiterated with him her annoyance about the girl, his opinion wasn't much different than Oro's when it came to their master's interests....they all did Snoke's bidding without question....Kylo included.. ..good for him for finally having a bit of fun....who were they to judge.

"Don't cut off my arm Ria but you sound like a jealous wife...what do you care if he lied or kept that bitch for a while to himself... weren't you just bragging to me about some resistance pilot you traumatized, fucked every direction, and left after you squeased his brain for info? If Snoke isn't worried about her, why are you?"

He had a point, she would let it go for now, "Gontra let us know if you see anything, I can feel Skywalker's presence, he hasn't left...I sense Kylo now, I think they've landed, ...but something still feels off...don't you feel it?...just keep your eyes open...tell Faree and Alex too....I believe they are down from your position...."

...with that they went back to hurry up and wait...

...psychopaths don't do well with idle hands...


	50. Finn paced

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The old base was bustling with movement, everyone bracing for what they were sure was a trap....and probably a firing squad at the end of the day...but for now orders were shouted.... General Organa and Han Solo were ridiculously calm....Poe was ready to barrel outside to shoot up the entire First Order fleet himself and Finn paced meticulously....thinking only of Rey...seeing her sweet face...

Finn couldn't believe she was alive, his friend...he loved her, from the moment he saw her....she was stubborn and fierce and brave, forgiving and open to life...so much braver than him...but she had accepted him.

She was someone he would die for...not for the cause ....not for the greater good.... but for her...he would gladly take his last breath....how had Ben gotten her away from Kylo Ren though....his mind did wander to that....he couldn't wait for her to finally meet Poe.

He hoped the day would last longer than the next few hours... he felt confident though and terrified at the same time...this makeshift family was about to have a new addition....but lose Skywalker....and oddly enough Luke didn't seem the slightest bit concerned....

...then he heard it, a shuttle had landed near the bay door, Rey and Ben were supposed to be there....

Finn was actually looking forward to meeting this long lost Ben Solo.... solely to thank him for bringing Rey home ....

...even for a day....


	51. Rey of sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her light began to burn around them all....silencing the turmoil within 51 hearts to nothing....eyes showed recognition....even Ben felt the warmth and wavered in his resentment....she stepped over to Leia and embraced her as a mother....tenderly....she saw Han and gave him the invitation to join them....he had been kind to her....she was happy to see him....she saw Ben shudder as they stood there looking so ....like a family....she left them....and turned back him....waving her hand he fell to the ground....with a loud thud...

She was as sunshine to them all, so inviting and warm....a calm hit each of them....even Poe couldn't have hurt a fly....

"Rey stop....you cannot control people this way, good intentions aside...taking their anger, ....fear, ....fury is still molesting their minds...it's still a violation. " Luke seemed unaffected by her.

She listened, releasing the mobb...."he will be quite pissed when he wakes....can you put him somewhere safe til I wake him....I have quite the show to put on!"

She instructed everyone to move as far back into the base as they could, "Luke your father says you are to teach me after this, but for now I need you back there keeping the monster down and the rebels safe....Leia...Han... thankyou for loving him despite himself....he doesn't hate you....he is quite blind to his true self...I look forward to knowing you more."

She moved toward the doors motioning them open....

...she projected an image of Kylo dragging an unconscious Luke to his shuttle, drawing power from everywhere....

...the planet itself was generous in its offer to answer her request for assistance...the long dead volcano miles away suddenly woke with a blast of glory...

...his knights saw him board and the shuttle rise...they took to their own ships and set courses to head to meet Hux on the Finalizer....they heard Hux order them to dock quickly, he was arming his weapons to obliterate the resistance once and for all...

...but as Kylo's shuttle neared the atmosphere edge it was struck by explosive debri...

...destroyed....

...the base itself bombarded by the eruption so fast noone knew how to react....

Hux looking on in disbelief ordered everyone to fall back and armed down...what was this....the planet stabilized some, but the base was beneath cooling lava....noone could have survived...there was barely anything left of the shuttle...floating pieces...they found no signs of life forms....

Ria and her counterparts sank...this was not happening.....in the hours to come Hux was deemed a failure and brutally punished for not retrieving Skywalker and losing Snoke's apprentice....but the old slimy thing had been pleased that that resistance was burned alive...he felt no sign of the power he'd been trying to reach either...curious...Luke must have found the creature himself....now all were thankfully dead and not his problem anymore....

...they departed soon after once everything was triple checked. Hux had remained somewhat quiet. Ria had been named the new apprentice to Snoke and master of the knights facing no challenger....none of the men dared knowing she'd slice them in half without a second thought.....all was going to plan....now to the next....


	52. all is not lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They clustered together, scared to death, still quite confused...they felt the base tremble and the blast was so loud....was the First Order attacking?...no....then what?.... it couldn't be the volcano....it was long extinct? Kylo laid on the floor at Luke's feet, he hadn't flinched in response to anything...Finn had checked on him a couple times ...feeling obligated. Leia sat with Han quietly, hands intertwined, it was a comfort...that old familiar intimacy, they glanced at their son, they weren't sure what was coming next....

Rey felt a bit drained, she wasn't sure what had guided her through the spectacle but she was grateful....

She thanked the planet, and reached out to feel the enemy ships departing.....

She sent a small bit of gratitude to Hux...and assured him it wasn't what it appeared but to act like it was....she felt his body release tension...she didn't dare longer contact....

She felt her shield holding around them....Snoke hadn't seen through the farse and thought them all gone.

The lava cooled into a hard shell....the old fart of a volcano happily drifted back to it's slumber.

She let a sigh escape....she was exhausted....they had air for now, she closed her eyes and felt around....there was underground caves that way...water there....vegetation if they could go beyond this affected area....they could not stay here...

...and then there was Ben...he would not be happy with her when he woke....he really thought Luke was giving himself to save her, going with Kylo by choice, to Snoke of his own will....hoping to save them all....he had been wrong, he hadn't been ready to turn away from the power Snoke offered....she felt it despite his draw to her...to the light...he was still so saturated by darkness....betraying himself.....

She moved to where her friend waited, taking Finn's hand she used the other to crack the wall open revealing the caves....

"we are safe for now, they can't feel our presence, they have left...and we need to follow these caves to get to a safer place to rest, eat, and get a drink....everything here will be toxic......this shield won't hold .....and he is coming with us...for now no questions....please."

Everyone got up and followed, they didn't have a choice ...it was follow or die....and after what she had just done...noone was willing to argue with her.


	53. Chewie to the rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The old wookie had left Han with Leia and Luke to resupply and touch base with Maz, he was still loading the Falcon when the orange irritation informed him of where he was to pick up the lot of them....and Ben Solo....he was shocked to say the least....

"I am coming with you....do not bother trying to argue...I need to help Rey, and Ben....don't give me that look....I know what the boy has done...I haven't lived under a rock...my castle is still flattened mostly because of his stupidity!"Maz blared at him.

They finished stocking and lifted off...it was a quick journey....their stops along the way gave for some interesting gossip....the resistance was quelled by the First Order, the fanatical jedi Luke Skywalker slain, and the devoted apprentice to the Supreme Leader Snoke Kylo Ren had been lost in the battle....the propaganda machine was working overtime.

The universe it seemed was at a loss for response...hope seemed a lost memory without the fire beneath their feet from the resistance....Maz smiled....she felt it....it was not so....with a look Chewie understood...and they kept moving....

"it says to land near this, she showed him on the console...it won't look like anything but they'll be there waiting...they sent the message before all the excitement ....hmmmm should be quite the tale!"

When they landed they found the lot, ...dirty,...... exhausted,....ready to leave.....

Rey was happy to see Maz, ..."you were right." She told her....and with that they left, cramming way too many into such an old beat up ship, but heading out with a glimmer of hope.....


	54. Master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ria had the power now, she had been chosen...she was being strengthened by Snoke himself....though obscure in his ways he gave her everything she wanted...free reign....to be her....her lust and fire burned relentlessly....she was his cruel hand....his slave.... nothing made her cringe....Alex had been her first test upon receiving her new title as Master of the Knights of Ren. Supreme Leader had presented him to her on a slab,...naked, kept in place at ankle and wrist....ready for her to devour....

He cackled when she knelt before him, he reached his digusting crinkled fingers over her unmasked head, sliding them through her hair....

"you are magnificent my new and loyal apprentice, I sense no conflict or regret in you...unlike your predecessor...he consistently disappointed me with his compassion....it kept him from completing his training....the flicker of light deep within just wouldn't be denied....despite all my tutoring...."

...with a nodd he motioned for her to rise, "a token of my gratitude, this boy, was the weakest among you...I worked on him myself a bit....he cares for you...you know....he lusts for you....I saw it....he let you do many acts....none he wanted....but for your possible reciprocation of his love he gave you anything....he sees you as a goddess of darkness...his dreams are full of you....do not end him but you must shatter every part of him that sees hope in you....you must destroy whats left of his light....suck him dry....it is your crowning....then I will train you in ways Kylo Ren wasn't...he was never ready....but you I see will enslave anyone I point you to, you will be my blade and wrath...."

She felt herself wet despite herself....this boy loved her.... desired her....she had toyed with him for so long....he hadn't broken from her sadistic attentions... insanity.....stupid boy....

She shed hers weapons....guards.... her tunic and leggings, she had no shame, a thousand creatures could be watching and she would still mount him like a whore for her master's whim ...

...licking her lips she straddled him....

...his eyes were wide with fear....he had not been able to speak, his tongue frozen by Snoke....but he had heard the entire speech....

She growled at him, kissed along his neck and chest...causing him to react...she slid over him gently...he knew it was a lie....but he felt such desire....it overwhelmed him....as she stroked into him faster driving him deep, he moaned but his eyes remained fixed on hers....

...her beautiful blue pearls slowly turned a severe black....something creeping within he'd never seen before...he was petrified....but he felt his orgasm coming anyway....

...she latched her hand at his throat so hard he barely felt breath intaking....her nails digging drawing blood....he felt their master watching....

...she pushed power into his mind...it hurt...images...of him being mutilated, fucked by mutiple men....being ripped apart....eaten alive by a massive beast...pieces being sliced off his body one at a time....being set on fire and burned....of him raping and murdering without a moment of hesitation....she started beating him while still pelted him with more and more images ...still fucking him denying him release...and she fed on it....his disbelief....his desire...his fear...his anger...he was angry!

His anger was new!

She felt his developing hate!

She called a small knife to her hand working over his body like an artist....never stopping her hips...they were moving violently....her rhythm devasted his minimal resolve to hang on to a thread of himself.

She climaxed...rode her orgasms over and over...finally giving him release...his blood soaked the floor below the slab, her body covered with it....she felt the light in him dwindle....watched it die...his eyes were blank...the shell her master had began to make she had completed...

...she kissed her prey deeply....

...he responded.

She could tell it wasn't the same... he would react but it was empty....his soul was gone...fed to her and her master through her...

Snoke cackled again....pleased....he felt sated....she was truly a prize.....wicked and hungry....


	55. Rage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey sat beside him, his porcelain skin, marred but still enticing....she used one slender finger to trace his features...debating.... then she woke him....

When his eyes opened he registered her betrayal...he looked at her intently....

She felt his rage...

...it was bubbling to the surface...

"what the fuck Rey! Why the hell? ...you bitch ! You treacherous, heartless...it was in place...you fucked it all up !"

He staggered as he tried to stand still disoriented...what had she done to him?

He lunged at her, his saber was gone....he couldn't tell where they were...all he could see was his anger ....she stopped him before he reached her, knocking him out again...he landed on the floor...

"you can't just knock him out everytime he gets mad, he'll never be awake!" Finn joked.

"I'm not defending the creepy ass, but you like him...he didn't kill you and brought you back...so I'm giving him a reprieve..."

Rey laughed, "I know Finn, but I'm not ready to face...him...that version of him...he would have handed Luke over to Snoke...just like that....he chose my life over Luke's...just like that....I don't know if he would have stopped all of you from being killed back there..I just don't know... and the force has plans for me that I don't understand....Luke is supposed to teach me according to Ben there's force ghost dead Darth Vader grandfather...Finn I just don't know..."

...she let the tears fall, she didn't have to be strong in front of Finn... didn't have anything to prove...

"I'm glad I can just be Rey with you....instead of this scary all-powerful force-goddess with bad taste in a non-boyfriend..."she laughed, wiped her face and smiled.

He was a good friend. Now if she could figure out what to do with Ben. He would attack her again right now if she woke him...or try to simply kill her...

maybe....

maybe not....

she felt the rage beneath the surface...


	56. Lost in my mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben was livid,...he remembered walking her onto the base, confronting his parents, ...her friend, ...his uncle... and then all hell breaking loose...and then blackness... he woke up... confused...felt the rage creep up until he wanted to strangler her for what she done...then blackness again...

He was in his own head again, scary place, not fun, ...how could she trap him here...with no way out....

he was going to kill her for this....run her through her lying heart with his saber....

no he wasn't....

but he wanted out.... and he couldn't wake up...somehow he needed to convince her to let him out...but how?

He found himself sitting on stupid rock, next to a large lake,....it seemed familiar...

"I'm sorry, but until you calm down I'm not letting you out," Rey told him.

He saw her on the grass a few feet away...she was radiant...

"why am I here? Looking this way? " he motioned at his clothes...light colored slacks and tank...definately not his usual black black and more black..."you can't change me, you can't blind yourself either...I'm not the kid you met on your beach...you are not safe from the dark....it's in you already...you taste it when you reach out for the power you use...it's hard to ignore...,"he looked away from her, ran his hand through his shaggy hair, "what do you want from me...?"

Rey saw his ache...he never trusts and she felt why he was so angry with her now...he had trusted her...

"I do, ....taste it....the darkness it is very enticing...I sensed it in you the day we met....I was too young to understand...how seductive it can be...I didn't see.... you would have given me to your master then...me...the 5 year old child.... innocent but powerful...if I hadn't stopped you and sent you away from us...I couldn't save you then......can I save you now?"

She appeared lost herself... definately not the intimidating siren that brought him to his knees in his shuttle."Snoke would've used my power and corrupted my light...that little girl whose eyes stayed in your heart all these years...he would've destroyed her..."

...and he crumbled...all his big prince of darkness bullshit...faded to nothing...in the face of her like this...

"yes, he would have, and at that time....I was young and I would have brought you to him...I'm sorry...I took you because I remembered that girl...I saved that girl from him and myself when I arranged the trade....Luke for you."

Hearing him admit it did not help her, but she understood. "I won't keep you here indefinitely...I promise."

She got up and got closer...he didn't grab her or lunge...

...he was inches from her face looking down....she was intoxicated...she shouldn't have come in here...

...she felt her body tense...she couldn't take it....

...she jumped....crashing into his lips...and he let her, crashing back just as madly....they deepened the kiss ...it was powerful....their force energy blazed...she wanted him...too much...he wrapped his arms around her pulling her closer...

"no!"

She broke away...from his arms...from his mind...leaving him alone...again...


	57. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "So you are to train me...I can talk to planets, fool Snoke into seeing the whole resistance is dead, and trap your darkside nephew in his own mind...how do you propose you train me?" She stared Luke down intently... she was still mad at herself for going into Ben's head...

Luke shrugged, "I propose we start from scratch...you have no training...no true control of this massive power the force blessed you with...meditation is needed...eventually battle resources... forms...you need it as a foundation to start to learn to control...you could destroy everything that exists or save it...but training starts at the basics...the beginning."

And she knew he wasn't wrong, it was why Anakin told her to go to his son...to learn...power without knowledge was just that...without. Snoke wouldn't be ended by just power...

Ben wouldn't be saved from himself without the right power...and she wouldn't understand the difference without guidance...from the living and the dead....

"my father says others are coming to help train you...you are to read the ancient jedi texts and start training with me...but you will learn from my father and other former jedi...as well as Ben when his time comes... and believe it or not some Sith, crazy sounding I know...but you require this united front....Snoke hasn't simply been destroying force-sensitives ...he has been collecting and harnessing their power....it is how he is so powerful....how he had lived so long....Ben was like a fill in chargeup when he was low on his sources...you would have made him invincible....that's why it's good he didn't get his hands on you."

She listened but as they sat down and he explained what it meant to be a padawan to the living and dead...to the Jedi and Sith...she felt alone....and she missed Ben....

...so she was something truly different....the dark and the light wanted to save her....or make her more...but what did that mean?


	58. My enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He had been utterly discouraged as he watched the shuttle explode...when the volcanic debris ripped through it...Ren was bringing in Skywalker...he had saved the girl...his death had not been part of the plan....

Hux couldn't bring himself to face Leona, he wanted to be alone in his misery....

...he hadn't per say liked the boy, but he didn't truly wish him dead.

Skywalker's death was a bit of a win....but then there was the girl....saved just long enough to perish with the rest of the resistance...he sat shaking his head....then he felt that warmth....a small bit of reassurance... calming...

she wasn't dead....

none of them were...

he didn't know how but he knew....it was all she dared send him...it was enough....

He would carry on... propaganda would be releashed, the Supreme Leader would select a new apprentice and master of the Knights of Ren. He had a clue who, Ria was likely...she was foaming for it, she would be way worse than Kylo had been...joy.

The general would actually miss the not so friendly competition and banter...he hopes the two were snuggled up hidden somewhere....

For now he laid back and let sleep take him...he would take his failure in stride tomorrow....knowing they were out there safe...and for everyone here he would present a face glad they were all dead. He knew how ruthless Ria had been before...without Kylo's leash....he knew the bodies would pile high now...lovely.... and drifted off...


	59. Goodbye my friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke informed Rey they needed to go to a powerful force source location to train properly...an old temple hidden far out, the planet had an island which was isolated ....Ben had to be transported with them, ...kept asleep until his portion of her training was ready...everyone was safe where they were ...and she needed to be away from any distractions...

She said her goodbyes, and politely assured Ben's parents she would take care of him.

They took off, and she kept to herself....her mind was full...

Ben looked peaceful but she could feel his intense displeasure at his placement.

Being out of control of his existance was definitely annoying him. But Luke assured her when he was released he would behave...and would understand....

She hoped so....since their kiss her thoughts had been intense...she wanted the feel of him against her body....she wanted the starving feel of his lips on hers.

So many images of them had emanated from him in those moments before she tore herself from his head...her fear had taken over...she didn't want to be lost in him or anyone...survival instincts not to be inhaled by his lust...his immense dark.

The black hole within him scared her...she had been in denile of how much....

They settled in after such a long journey.... she set her few belongings up in her hut, Luke laid Ben on his palet, she had decided to keep his snoozing form close...so she could monitor....she spent her mornings meditating with Luke, she learned forms with several old Jedi ghosts...her favorite lessons were with the little green toad like creature Yoda, he was hilarious...he concentrated on her focus with planetary control and space....., the Sith lords were a bit more of an acquired taste...hateful and critical...but it was intriguing...she learned the more cruel ways to defend herself... lightning, choke, freezing blood within a victim, stopping brain activity, creating false realities, twisting someone's senses to use against them, taking control of another's actions, pulling their energy using the dark, it was overwhelming....

Anakin showed her how the light flowed through all things...how it danced in every cell and molecule...the beauty in all living things...and he praised her the most....she liked him...he reminded her of Ben...he told her his grandson had a lot to learn still...humbling....that she was key to that growth....when the time came their force power would combine to destroy Snoke and his new apprentice....she felt stronger and more centered as time wore on...she learned to manipulate everything and anything around her....big ...small....she could access power beyond the veil of death...use the shadows as well as streams of pure light energy....she could pull energy from any of these Jedi or Sith beings at will and they didn't mind giving it to her....then the time came to revive Ben...he had gotten visitors within his mind because Anakin wanted to keep him updated with her training progress, he wanted to prepare him for his role... himself....

Rey kissed his face, took a deep breath and willed him awake....praying his hands wouldn't immediately go for her neck....


	60. Waking the sleeping prince

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben had no idea how long he had been stuck there, time had become quite the blur. He had calmed but was glad his grandfather kept him updated....it was impressive the progress she'd made...but he hated waiting....and she had stayed out...and he craved her touch....

As he felt himself leave his cage he saw her near him...

felt her gaze...

sensed her nervousness....

he knew why...attacking her and screaming obscenities the last time probably wasn't the best way....she had immediately shut him back down...he looked up...

"I'm not going to do anything...I promise..." He leaned up,... caressed her cheek hesitantly, resting his palm against her, she relaxed...it made his heart race...

"I am sorry...I have wanted you here... Luke said you weren't ready...Anakin says you are now..." she felt herself ease closer.

Their hands found eachother and their foreheads touched...closing their eyes the surge of power thrummed, Luke felt it from the shore...and so they will begin...training together next...

she wasn't sure what that would entail...she just knew she needed him....that whatever he could do to or with her was whatever it would be....

she would take it...


	61. Between a mother and a hard place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux received word an execution was to be scheduled...Ria had gotten word of resistance survivors seen...she had been thrilled to find Leia...he knew it would be a spectacular show....Snoke would want the entire universe to see her fall....he was glad Kylo was too dead to notice....

It was a fluke to stumble upon her but Leia, Poe and another woman had gone out trying to find supporters....Rey had been gone with Luke for months....everything had been so quiet they thought it was safe...if they were careful...they had been wrong...

Ria had spies everywhere....

Now Poe was unconscious chained up in her quarters, they had shot the unimportant one after getting no useful information out of her, and Leia was waiting in her cell to die.

Hux made the arrangements to Snoke's specifications....she was to be beheaded by Ria herself for all to see in 3 days.

Her torture had been his job...they got quite a bit...he was not thrilled to hear not only was everyone alive...that Rey was supposed to end Snoke with Kylo's help and he couldn't prevent this...because he heard it all with Ria breathing down his neck followed by her silent pet Alex...

She had jumped and snarled rampaging to tell the Supreme Leader all the disturbing news...he had been beyond psychotic that he'd been fooled by her mediocre level magic tricks...he knew Leia's big show would attract them to swoop in to try and rescue her...so he could crush them with his new apprentice....

he salivated....

it was close...

he wanted to devour them both...

he could taste their power now...they weren't able to shield from him...not anymore....what a shame...

Ben Solo would not be able to resist saving or dying to be there for his mother...


	62. Discouraged

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Han had no way to let Luke and Rey know about Leia's capture, he had no idea where they even went to send someone...they weren't sure if Poe and Christa were alive too...but it was all over the halonet about the big political execution coming up...

Rey and Ben had been merging their force energy exactly how Anakin directed...they took turns moving into eachother's minds.... sifting through memories deeper and deeper....

you couldn't hide anything once you went that far down...

you couldn't hide shame or fantasies...

or the deeds you yourself pushed so far back you'd even forgotten them yourself.....

she took his inside her...

he saw the simplest joys of her young childhood....he witnessed the force creating her....and marvelled....

she was created to match him....his darkness...his power...it's why she greeted him by his name on her beach...why she healed him...

She had to leave her mark of light in his dark...so he couldn't be consumed by Snoke when he went to him....but he hadn't done the same for her back then...she had been too young...it wasn't necessary yet...she was still shielded...

then....

but now he needed to understand how to give her that mark...give his dark to her light...to complete the loop of energy between them....seal their fate to save them all...

Her teachers had taken time with him...been less patient with his slower progress but it couldn't be helped....he was so far gone....he wasn't as open to learn as she had been...but painfully they had ....

She reached into him pulling out the poison...the remnants of Snoke...

like pealing flesh from bone...

vein from root....

she screamed as he left himself falling into her.....


	63. Doll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe lay against the cold floor, chest barely moved with his low slow intake of breath....he remembers...her face...she'd given the image back...when she'd entered the interrogation room....she'd flashed that smile...he sensed something eerily familiar...touching his arm....then his chest...his neck....running her thumb across his split lip....she gave it to him...

He recalled every jerk of her hip....

every blow....

every slice....

every growl..

every breath as she drenched and bled him...

and she'd seen him not blink or look away...she decided not to kill him then...he was not weak.

She saw the truth....the same truth they'd gotten from Leia's mind...

The other girl hadn't been useful at all...she knew nothing...she had enjoyed eating a blaster for Ria....she fed that woman's soul to her master...

...but Poe she kept...she had collared him....led him quietly to her rooms...he had followed...put up no fight...it aroused her... puzzled this fireful wretched cruel beast of an apprentice to the Supreme Leader... she led him to the bedroom....

Ria Ren...was his master...he knew...she slowly removed his ragged shirt....the remains of the pants...

...as he stood naked before her...she gently guided him to his knees...she latched the chain end to the wall beside her bed...

She kissed him...it was hungry...it wasn't violent...for the first time Ria wanted to feel different...she desired this man who faced her...as a woman not as the creature she's become...

Humanity had abandoned her...but she gave him this for his bravery...knowing what she'd done to him....

After watching her make his comrade...his friend blow her brains out in front of him..."you belong to me ...I own you now...you breathe because I'm allowing it...do what you wish Poe....I submit tonight to you but your chain will remain...I leave your mind your own...you do this of your own will...slide inside me and betray every vow you made....to everything you've ever sworn to fight for..."

She let him slide her tunic down...then her leggings...her underthings...

...the knife from her thigh wrap...

...he pulled the large pin from her long tresses...letting them fall around her face...

...he ran the edge of her blade along her neck....then let it drop to the pile he'd made at her feet....

...he was drunk on her this moment....this vile thing...that had broken him so spectacularly....

...kneeling again he kissed her deeply low and she keened.... hands in his black curls...

He raised....pushed her back against the wall, pulled one of her legs up enough to press inside with his body...she crashes around his...wet from submission... his mouth found hers now...he fell into the blackness...

...he was truly gone...

...lost....of his own will he took her...

She wouldn't share him...her master had enough from her...this one was only hers....and he wouldn't leave her....


	64. Princess to the end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In her cell she waited....she had been repaired...her skin back to near perfect for an older woman who had seen too much war her entire life.....She was moved to a set of rooms to prepare...Snoke wanted her looking regal today...she glanced at the intricate gown and slippers on the bed, and the droid fixed her hair and painted her face...it was all so familiar...she hadn't missed it....being a show....

Looking at her reflection in the mirror Leia felt alone, she thought of Han....of the others...she had heard nothing of Poe....not since Ria had led him off by her leash...not since she watched Christa eat her gun...

...she felt a single tear slide down her cheek... heartbroken she wished she could see her son...and Rey...and her brother....

The princess lifted her chin...if she was to lose her head today....it would be with dignity....

When she scanned her surroundings at her execution she saw no empathy...troopers lined up at attention...dignitaries and royalty watched on scared they could easily be next if they spoke against Snoke.

Hux stood in his best regalia next to the Supreme Leader and Ria held her saber ready...

...facing the crowd as the halonet recorded....................

....the daughter of Darth Vader, the Princess and General, sister of the Last true Jedi master, the mother of Ben Solo...the vicious former commander of the Knights of Ren Kylo Ren, the former wife of a smuggler turned hero,....lowered to her knees waiting to die...

Ria stepped forward when Snoke motioned following his grand speech about ridding the gallaxy of the poisonous resistance and the death of tyranny.....

...... the new apprentice looked fierce in her solid black gown......with a swift slice Leia's body fell to the ground.....her head rolled to Snoke's feet......the crowd roared applause.... it thundered through the massive hanger....

Hux directed the mess cleaned up,.......she was to still receive a proper funeral on Naboo as per her station...her body laid to rest in her Mother's tomb...the First Order stood without opposition....the universe saw no champion to stand in the way.....noone had stood to save Leia....her son and Rey had not showed up in the nick of time to save the day.....

Hux was ordered to go collect the rest of the resistance where they cowered.

Their executions weren't going to be as much of a show...death by firing squad as Snoke relished his victory....he still needed to find Luke and his 2 to be saviors but nothing could taint the day....he felt satisfied, sated....his core swirled....the end was near.

He would swallow them down and darkness would reign.


	65. Crackling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He shifted from the grand stage in the hanger, patting his apprentice on her head like a loyal dog, noone saw the glow he curled his claws around as he departed...he slowly made his path down long corridors into the bowels of his massive ship...noone followed...he brought his hand to his mouth and drank the glow of crackling energy in....sucking it between his rotten lips.

"Ahhhhh! Yes so delicious,... tastes of bitter loss...she gave up....her hope lost...hahaha! ... Leia....she thought her son left her to die..." His form vibrated, her limited force energy fed him briefly...filled...his skin lightened some, became less purpled...her bloodline was special...even not truly embracing the force she was a good meal...he didn't eat her soul just her power...untapped potential... from his hands it surged...great red lightning...he felt them...they did not know...he saw their fear...of his wrath...of their weakness...Rey was pure force energy of solid fierce light but she was eclipsed by Ben's dark ripples of shadow...they had been training...to take on HIM! He found it so amusing....these little insects pestering him....he would step on them....watch them bleed and drink their energy down just as quick....finish this....thousands of years....he would own the force himself....he would eat her heart.... Ria had been vigorously harvesting any that could quench his thirst...she had grown stronger in her limited ability....he had given her sips to keep her addicted to the feeling...to keep her unquestionably agreeing to every step...her eyes now remained solid black....her spirit fully corrupted...he had never shared this with Ben...The boy's compassion only allowed his master to drink his power from him in limited doses while his nightmares raged...feeding as he slept...Ria he used to feed openly....she craved it....taking into herself her victims as he taught her to and she offered it up to her dark master....his physical form was almost completely solid again....his ship's cells full of more food....captured and given to him as offerings, the force felt him draining them all...he needed to open the veil still...the dead remained safe...he needed Rey to drink their power down...she had the access...she didn't even know what she was....pathetic child...


	66. Are you here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How do you wear your fear.... or your strength? Do you slip it on like a suit of armour....or a disguise?

Rey and Kylo had learning to practically wear eachother's powers down to an artform...

...they would have to play dirty to beat Snoke, but Rey found it difficult to slip within the Sith spirits...

...they kept explaining she could use their power to reflect Snoke's back at him....like a shield...but to do that meant accepting the dark half as easily as the light without looking down at it....

Ben found the same of the Jedi spirits power....it was like wearing skin that didn't fit...and he still hadn't left his dark mark within her.....they were still vulnerable.....

...he kept getting distracted by the smell of her hair....the flutter of her lashes....

...she would get lost in the bulging of his muscles....or how loud his thoughts got around her......

They had so much force power together....but Snoke could still find the wiggle room until they sealed all the cracks....the weak points...trust was key...giving in completely to that trust ...becoming one fierce warrior...

  
...easier said than done....

She watched him dream....she saw her there....holding him...he wanted her more than breath entering his lungs...and she knew it was in her too...that want...great evil can use great love against you....she wouldn't barter....

He lurched....."she's gone !"

".....my.... mother...." his face looked drained...all color left him....

Rey was confused....

"Snoke....Rey he had her executed! He took in her force power...the bit she had.....he's stronger...he knows where we are....." he sank back....tears fell....

Rey gathered him into her arms....and felt his pain....his anger....

He gave her the images....she saw what the cruel creature had forced into her son's brain at her death....he wanted to break him....she would NOT allow it....

"Luke needs to know....and we have to leave....they are coming..."...Ben shook himself off....trying to feel....anything...he raised his eyes to hers... and followed as she searched out Luke .

The Falcon took off that day....they would try to reach Finn and the others...gets answers... try to make their plans...this atrocity would not go ignored or unpunished....

Anakin and the others travelled with them...within them....guardian angels and demons....none wanted Snoke to reach them in the veil...

Luke wasn't worried...he saw their fate...


	67. Where are you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time had slowed....he was so lost here....his thoughts betraying everything he'd always fought for...fought against ...he knew...Leia was executed....he had watched Ria make Christa kill herself... trembling with the gun between her lips...his anger was just not there. He was numb....he knew they would all hate him now...despise him....for this...for being here....

Poe laid, head against his hands, on his side, beside her bed....their bed....

...the chain clinked when he stirred a bit...the collar was solid...but not heavy....

...she was out for now...but she never stayed away long...she kept her quarters mostly dark....it was so quiet when he was alone....

...he thinks of flying....his x-wing blowing up enemy ships....she was his enemy....she was evil....cruel....she killed so easily....for her master...

...he belonged to her...her pet...he wasn't human to her...

...when she had given him herself the first time....after the collaring...he could've attacked... might have hurt her....probably not...she could have snapped his neck easy with a thought...a flick of her slender wrist...

Her milky skin...he had kissed it....he was truly lost....it had happened so many times since then... words couldn't describe some of what she'd done to him...had him do...put into his mind...made him feel....want....

No, he wasn't Poe anymore...he couldn't be human anymore....

Finn would hate him....

Rey would be digusted....was he disgusted with himself?

He heard the doors hiss from the main rooms, heard her dropping things,...she entered the bedroom....her eyes fell immediately to him....

"how's my pet tonight?"the knight hummed, "your friends have yet to retaliate, we haven't even heard news of Rey and Kylo,...maybe none of them care what's become of you...maybe your General's death was of no concern."

Ria ran her fingers through his black curls....laughing lightly... "Snoke sent us to find them, they had already ran...cowards....do you miss them my pet? ...do you want to run like them?"

He did not speak much to her, he assumed he was kept just as a body...his usual smartass wit wasn't useful here...but he wondered....

"why am I not dead?"

This fierce warrior, wrath of a woman starred at him, "I....wanted you....so I kept you,....would you rather be dead than touch me pilot? I recall you reacting with enthusiasm every time...." she said confidently. "I didn't want to kill you, even when Kylo had you in his clutches...."

" I am no demon...." She motioned him to come to the bed, she had not given him clothes...not since his were removed....

He sat next to her... she looked so invincible to him.... inviting....so beautiful...morbid thoughts...she should disgust him....

Leia treated him like a son....was basically a mother to him as many....why wasn't he angry.....why does he let her.....?

She ran her fingers up his arm up to his neck....he shivered.....gracefully caressing his jaw, then leaned in kissing along the path....ending on his lips....he growled into her mouth in full force,....always...can't stop himself....why....

She pulls away, "you want me too Poe, ....I'm in your blood, you want to hate me... kill me...but you can't...I won't either though... pathetic for murderous bitch...but there it is...you are something I kept for myself...and I woke up the darkness inside you through my flesh...you can't cut it out...when you leave me ....it may fade"

He blinked, "why me, I have no power, your MASTER won't see the point of this."

"You made me feel something, ....hard to believe I know....he would...will tell me to end you....he promises power....he has put some inside me already....I wasn't as conflicted as Kylo....but my passion... I wanted you...."

He saw her before him, she seemed small...not vile....not drenched in blood....not raging into battle...she looked fragile....

He placed his palm over her heart..."I feel it there, you are not gone yet...if Kylo can feel .....Rey saw it....and walk away...why can't you Ria....please....let me go...I can't make you...I think I will simply give until I'm empty here...but eventually I'll be only a shell that nodds and does....I'm losing more of myself here everyday....I feel it.....I think away from your master....everyone feels more....and different the longer they are away from him....he is a poison..."

She doesn't answer, pushing him back she climbs on top and kisses him, kisses his chest, standing ....she wriggles out of her clothes,....he hadn't moved.

She released his collar.

...chain hits the floor....she straddles and sinks down...riding him like a lover not task master.... pouring her passion into his mind, he moans....writhing into her from below, he nails rake his chest and shoulders, she cries out as waves of pleasure overtake her...

...collapsing she breathes into his ear..."tomorrow....I'm setting you free tomorrow my pet...I don't want an empty plaything I want this...I want your fire in me...tonight give me everything...pretend you love me with every fiber....lie to me...make me scream and pant...break me like I have you...look into me like I'm not a hideous beast...."

He was astounded....but obliged...she could be telling him all lies...but it didn't feel like it...so he surrended...he used his hands, mouth, every inch of his body to make hers sweat, vibrated with ecstasy....and he was spent after a unreal night....

...hours....it had been so many hours...

...as she lay on top of him breathless and content.....as his eyes closed he thought of Rey....of Finn....

...he felt hope...he would see them again....


	68. The gang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Finn!!" Rey squeaked jumping on him, Ben stayed back with Luke. "I see you finally let the beast wake up !"he teased.

"Oh shut it! Yes, we worked on things....Ben felt something, he felt Leia....what happened?"

She hated jumping right into this, they had been so happy to find the resistance alive...but they were missing some....reluctantly Finn started from the beginning...

When Rey's training took so long and no one seemed to come looking for them... Leia thought small teams could venture out for supplies and intel...

Snoke had spies watching out...not for them ... he had believed her show....but other rebels...he had been pleased to find out the truth...he threw Leia's execution out for the universe to witness as as warning and bait to draw out Rey and Kylo ....

Finn cried as he shared how they received Christa's body as a gift....he told them intel said Poe was alive but being held prisoner by Snoke's new First Knight Ria.

They had moved hiding places and he was glad they got his message finally...

"I'm so sorry we weren't here sooner..." Rey felt awful.

" he's still coming, it's been constant, Ria and your knights Kylo have taken out more, there's not many left....what do we even do...it feels lost with Leia?" He let himself cry again...Rey held him.

Ben reflected, "it is done, but we can still end it ...Rey and I, I can avenge my mother, stop him... "


	69. Hux ever after

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux sat on his couch, slouchy and just plain exhausted...Leona had left reluctantly....he still enjoyed her company, but he wanted to be alone. His ship didn't feel like home anymore, Snoke had become ever more the tyrant....cruel for the simple pleasure of it....Ria had not bothered him as much lately....a positive....she seemed preoccupied with her pet prisoner...he assumes is still alive....he hasn't heard differently about the cocky pilot....

The general found himself thinking of the two force users often...

Snoke had been so sure Leia's execution would bring them out.

The Supreme Leader had been oddly pleased to find out what Rey had done, fooling everyone....he assumed because of the power it demonstrated....and his master had another shot at Kylo and Rey. He wanted them, Hux cringed...he didn't really want to know for what....he had seen the Knights of Ren bringing in force sensitives...they took them to Snoke... .men... women...children... they never exited his throne room....

He saw the reports though...of the bodies being disposed of....was he killing them? Maybe taking the limited power out of them?

He actually missed Kylo's temper compared to this...he handled that in stride...and Miss Rey...after getting to know her....he missed the sunshine she gave him...he wondered how they were...all Leia had to share during her torture session was the false show that had been put on by Rey....that the resistance was alive...Luke had taken Kylo and Rey to train somewhere hidden...but they didn't know where...and hadn't heard from her....

There just wasn't a straightforward purpose here to him anymore...the First Order used to be in the business of bringing order to the galaxy...to control....now Snoke seemed obsessed with only finding force sensitives...force users....desperate to create a monster from his prized apprentice Ria....to collect Rey and Kylo Ren....would he ever truly sleep again....

Should he just defect?....try to find them?...tell them what he did know?....he was simply going through the motions now....existing...he wanted to have more....

He would send Leona first....send her to Maz ...that creature would know where they were hiding...get her there, safe, then he could go...maybe marry her...live a few days a regular nothing human being before he died...yes he would.

Then maybe he would matter....he would rather die with them than here....


	70. Strange bedfellows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke was heartbroken....he felt like he had abandoned his sister....he had lost Ben his mother...the resistance their rock....Maz was coming now....her hiding place wasn't safe anymore...but then nowhere in the universe was....

Maz had sent word she would be there in a few days, Rey was so relieved her friend was alive...her message said she had a few others with her that had also escaped.... refugees.

There were so many during war... it was....such a defeating thing to endure....

Maz stepped down the ramp from her ship Rey ran to her, throwing her arms around the old creature's neck.

"I missed you ! I'm so glad he didn't find you!" Ben stayed back, he was glad too, but he left the joyous reunions to Rey.

"Child, I'm fine, I'm tougher than that old reptile thinks....he will have to try harder...him and his welps for knights.....," she grinned mischievously." Been hiding who I can, but as for today....I have 3 with me who need rest, medical care, and a scrap to eat....we've had a rough go of it to get here...there was a pesky dark one I had to knock back....got a good chase going at first...this is our 4th ship....!"

She motioned toward the ramp....3 beings came down, one limping...2 holding up the 3rd, all bruised and dirty bloody...all looked so drained...one with a familiar red crop of shaggy hair....

"omg Hux!" Ben looked shocked, Rey ran up to help them....

"how?....what in the world?" Ben looked at his former colleague with suspicion.... "decided to be a traitor huh?"

Hux swallowed with effort," it's not that simple...Kylo...BEN.... I'm here to warn Rey....I wanted Leona safe....I don't care if you kill me after..."

They headed to the medbay, his leg was broken...Leona had minor scrapes and bruises, the other gentleman was a worker of Max's...Hank...he was all she had left from her old castle....

Hux had shown up at a dive she was hiding in....asked her to get him and the woman to the resistance...had handed her his blaster and every credit he had....had put binders on himself....she had read no ill intent....sincere fear....genuine wish to help....he was a shell of the once formidable general who destroyed planets...held command of the First Order's vast armies...

Rey kissed his face, "you saved Leona.... Hux, you're here...I'm here..."

He found her eyes and cried, "I will tell you everything I can...but we need showers....food...rest...and Rey.... I need her....I need to marry her...please...ask who can... please..."

Leona had no idea he planned to, she looked surprised but happy, snuggling up to him...she delightfully told him yes, and it ended up being Luke who performed....they'd scrounged her up a plain dress....a resistance uniform for him...it was all they had...he didn't care....he kissed her deeply when it was done....spent the night giving her everything that made him a man...something he'd never allowed himself...

In the morning he sat with Luke, Rey, Ben, and Finn...telling them all he'd seen since Rey and Ben escaped.... he seemed so sad he couldn't save Leia....his once great enemy....he had respected her....he knew Rey and Ben would be so hurt at the loss...everyone would....they had more an idea what Snoke was up to now....they would have to go to him soon...it would not be pretty....


	71. Mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke told her, "it's in our failures we learn....we do not learn from never making any mistakes...." he hadn't been overly confident Ben had changed from Kylo Ren, he still loved his nephew but....he worried...there was just such darkness in him....

Ben slept so soundly in her arms....closed his eyes to her heartbeat...the smell of her hair....his nightmares hadn't plagued him since she let him wake from force sleep on the island....here he had dreamless sleep.... until tonight....

He was bent....kneeling at Snoke's feet....in his old black clothes....mask covering his face...

"you are still mine young Solo....do not think you can free your mind from me! She is not your savior...you do not love her...you are not capable.....you want her....you want to possess her....her power...her body...control it for me! Kylo Ren is a weak child...flawed by his compassion...a failure! You will come to me...you will bring her to me...I will feast on her light.... "

Kylo rose to his feet igniting his saber....lunging at the grotesque being....Snoke blasted him with red lightning...his body slamming on the ground with a sickening crack ...a clawlike hand gripped his face...

"wake now apprentice.. come to me now!"

Pain racked his body....his heart felt like it would burst....

Rey felt someone near her...thinking Ben was just shifting in his sleep...she sighed and started to drift back to sleep.....lips....she feels his lips...warm....soft....she parts hers receiving his kiss deeper...his hands moving along he ribs, knee moving between hers, pressing into her, his whole weight against her....

"Ben stop !...this is too fast.." she was trying to push him off, he had gotten too overzealous....his hands groping....it was too much... He leaned up, looking down at her.....

"I'm so sorry Rey... I can't control this need....this want...it's like I'm starving to feel...all of you....he wants you ....I can't keep him out...he...tells me..."

She stared at him not understanding...his hand goes to cradle her face, he lowers his lips gently to brush against hers one more time...then just blackness....he got up, scooped her into his arms....still in his tan civilian clothes here no one noticed them as he crept through the shadows of the hanger, he picked a small ship, farthest away from the main building....he started up the engines ...as their friends slept....he gazed at her asleep in the copilot seat.

Snoke would take her power...he would have to bend to him...but his master would let him keep her...he would let her live....he just wanted the power....his beautiful warrior....he would make it up to her....

Snoke would leave her friends alone now...he just wants her, and Kylo to return to his side....when the ship docked on the Finalizer he was guided straight to Supreme Leader Snoke by a very pleased Ria...he laid her at his feet....knelt....eyes to the dark floor...

"master, please, I give her to you, I give myself to your bidding...please take her power or mine as well...but let me keep her...let her live....she holds my heart with her light...."

Snoke laughed cruelly...it made Kylo cringe, Ria shifted uneasily,..."foolish boy...you give her to me...expect me to cater to your pathetic whim to love her! So needy Solo! Ria has been learning well the dark side..I've poured power into her ...you were always too weak ! No, I will take everything...in due time! For now ...some entertainment !"

Kylo knew he had made a mistake...one they were both going to pay for....he woke up hours later chained to the floor in the throne room...force inhibitors on his wrist....frantic looking around for her...then he was heartbroken....

She was chained as well...by her arms and feet hanging on the wall nearest Snoke... her head hung ...she was still asleep...she had been beaten, blood and purple bruises decorated her skin...she had inhibitors on too.... wearing only her underthings...even her arm wraps gone...her hair wild in her face....he watched as Snoke drank from her....he pulled some of her light out.....it seeped from her lips...so bright ...going into the monster...he sat back with a satisfied sigh....Kylo was frozen....

"she's delicious my apprentice...so much raw power...I had no idea the jedi and the sith spirits were giving her access to the veil...training her...I knew you and Skywalker had...should I give you a taste? Before I drain your power as well ? I don't need you as my apprentice now fool...I have one... who doesn't question her master ! I will trick your Rey into helping me access the veil...I will inhale all the force spirits...jedi and sith....drain it all ! Then I will suck her dry.... she will be an empty husk...and her heart will stop...all because of you Kylo Ren ! I will truly be immortal....I will destroy planets.... systems of planets with a thought ! All will bow to me ! "

He cackled so confidently, ...taking another satisfying sip of Rey's energy... as Kylo laid there helpless....


	72. He did what

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn heard engines...he jumped up...fell out of his bed ...tripping over his blankets ...hitting the hard floor with a graceful thudd...when he peeked out his door it didn't look like anyone else was awake...he walked out to the hanger...Ben was carrying Rey into a small ship at the far end...he called out...but the man didn't hear him....the engines had already been started before he took her inside...

"Ben! Ben!" Finn yelled now frantic....if he heard him, he showed no sign of it and flew away...he couldn't think of any reason for him to be taking an unconscious Rey anywhere...except to Snoke...

He raced to tell Luke..."Luke! He took her! I think he took her to him! To Snoke!"

"I believe you are right," Luke said sadly, shaking his head... "I sensed a strong dark presence...and then it was gone...Snoke must have attacked Ben in his dreams...he was still so vulnerable to his influence....that is definitely where they are headed... I will go after them...hopefully I wont be too late, I will go talk to Hux to see where Snoke was last, but I fear I'm going to my death..."

Hux told Luke the Supreme Leader was still on the Finalizer when he escaped...that he would probably already have started drinking power from Rey and Ben...that all the force sensitives and force users brought to him were drained until they died...but Rey was the key to something more, he wasn't sure what, so maybe just maybe she wasn't dead yet...and Snoke had wanted to punish Kylo for leaving....he would want him to watch her die before his death...

Luke took off quickly and headed to try...he owed Ben to at least try after what he had done to his nephew...and he owed Rey...he had to give them the opportunity to maybe stop this....


	73. Weak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey felt light, so weak....she felt like she was floating...she saw endless nothing around her...she could hear Ben screaming in pain...agony...but he sounded so far away...her eyes wouldn't stay open...they were so heavy....she remembered him kissing her...his hands all over her body...that it was too much....his hunger...had frightened her....and then blackness...and still now nothingness....so tired....

She hung there beside Snoke's throne, he sipped from her off and on, feeling quite satisfied...her force energy so much more than any he had ever felt...she tasted so delightful....

The light inside her was blinding...but the darkness in her so deep....he had given Ria a small taste.... a reward for being so obedient...the knight felt so high....dancing around the throne room...feeling on fire with power....

Ben had watched as his knights were brought in to beat his beautiful Rey and him...they were fools... when they'd done everything Snoke asked of them....he had drained their power ...left them in a crumpled heep on the ground...

Ria had stared at them wide eyed...she didn't seem to expect her master to kill her knights...he left them there for the night... Ria had gone as well...she had looked terrified.....

His body ached....staring helplessly at his love....she hadn't awoken at all....through the abuse...Snoke kept her in that deep sleep...he couldn't even reach her through their bond because of the inhibitors on them...

...troopers came and collected the bodies of his knights....they were gone...all gone ....dead...he wondered if they even regretted their path here....

He did now....he regretted so much more....he deserves this...more hell even...but his angel...the woman...the precious little girl who has always given him love and hope...no...she deserves so much better....she took him... believed in him...wanted him...if he could just get free!

But maybe Finn or Luke noticed when Snoke made him take her....maybe they were coming....he would give himself for her life...he would distract him so they could save her...anything to save her....his tears fell...kept falling mixing with the blood on the floor surrounding him....

Snoke would use her as a doorway to the veil to drain the force spirits of their power...he heard him say...but how...


	74. Betrayed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ria ran...ran....ran.. she could barely breath...it had happened so fast! One moment she felt so high... powerful...invincible..........Rey's power was so amazing...and he had shared it with her! Her master was so generous... .noone else got to taste it but him...and then he had given it to her! ...her knights had come...delighted to entertain their master....Kylo and Rey had been beaten...whipped... cut...burned...Oro had wanted to violate Rey but their master drew the line there saying she had to remain pure for his purposes...but Kylo....Kylo was being punished...they could do anything to him...Oro had licked his lips in anticipation to see their former master at his mercy...every sick thing Kylo had never participated in...he suffered...screaming...his knights had laughed...darkness rippling from them...Snoke lapped it up...watching his disobedient apprentice begging for them to stop...but then Ria watched in horror as her master devoured them all after they'd broken him...drank their energy dry...and he cackled....walking from the room...leaving her....to these thoughts of utter fear...disbelief...

She ran....tears trailing her pink cheeks,....to Poe...she had to get to Poe....

When she got to her quarters he sat up smiling...she had given him clothes, and he was waiting for the right moment to leave, she had planned to smuggle him off the ship tonight....his smile faded when he saw her face....the blood on her clothes...she collapsed in his arms...he didn't know how to comfort her...so he stroked her hair....kissing the top of her head...

She leaned up looking in his eyes with such sorrow and regret....she pushed the images into his mind...of all that had just happened...he cringed....then took her in his arms tighter...put his lips to hers....they devoured one another with urgency....when they were sated she told him.  

" I have to get you out of here now! He will kill us all! You have to go back to your friends and get Luke, he may be the only one left to help Rey and Ben..."

Poe kissed her deeply, held her shaking naked form to his own...the monster scared even her...what could any of them do to stop him...if he already had Rey and Ben....?

She guided him to where a transport was being loaded with weapons to take to one of the nearby bases, "I am sorry for my part...I should have seen past my thirst for power...that he would betray us all in the end...we are all pieces in his game.."

Poe looked at her, he felt her regret...she could feel...she was not completely lost... "come with me..."

It shocked her, he shouldn't want her after the vile things she had done to him...to so many..."I can't....I don't deserve to...get to Skywalker....I'm going to try to help Kylo....I need to try to help them...stall whatever Snoke will do to them..." she kissed him one more time shoving him in...she watched the ship leave...not knowing what she could possibly do to stop anything....


	75. Echoes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey heard them....the waves.... cresting...crashing against the white sand....the wind whipped her hair....her tiny feet sinking in the wet sand....she giggled happily....so peaceful....she loved their island....she saw the sun high in the beautiful sky....it was magical....the force energy danced around her here....the light so warm against her tan skin....she closed her eyes content...

She felt life everywhere....the birds flying out of her sight, insects crawling and ocean creatures....the plantlife sang to her...the planet hummed enjoying her presence...

Her little hands played in the sand....digging out shells...she saw him sitting beside her...his dark hair silky and shiny in the sunlight....his deep dark eyes seemed so sad...he was so lonely .... always....even when he was surrounded by people he was alone.

....she felt his memories...she grasped his palm...he was startled but then she felt happiness fill him...she loved this boy...he was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen... fractured....headed for such a hard future....but she treasured this time...he wasn't lost yet....and she felt she would see him again...

She splashed him with water and took off running....he gave chase trying get her back...

...her mind shifted from her memories to now.....their younger selves shifted into grown....she only saw shadows and she could not move....her whole body hurt....her head throbbed...she smelled blood...death....she felt energy leaving her ....

She kept hearing distant screams  
....sounds of violence....he was being hurt....she could feel it....his dark energy reached out to her but something held her in place.... something thick......beyond dark.... disgusting.....

His agony drifting towards her....if only she could send him peace...healing...what was happening... something wasn't right....she smelled burning flesh....heard the sound of skin slapping...someone revelling in their pleasure....someone else swallowing both emotions down....her core felt sick....Ben ....they were all torturing him....taking from him....

NO! .....

STOP !....

She screamed....over and over but nothing escaped.... silence....

This fog ....she couldn't see anything....! .....she sank back....feeling more energy leaving her....she heard and felt someone's horror ...shock....more pain....then laughter....cruel laughter.....then she felt they must be alone....

Ben was on the ground.... unconscious....

Why couldn't she wake up ?! It was driving her crazy....she called out to the force....why was it abandoning them now....?....why wasn't Luke here to help them....or Anakin...or any of the spirits...?

Inside her power flared with surge of anger....she saw through the fog a little....then she found him....he wasn't too far from her...she had to be hanging from a wall....and Ben....oh my stars....he was face down....naked chained to the floor....his back stripped from being whipped....bruised and bloody all over....burns on his arms and legs he's been stabbed mutiple times....his eye swollen shut, ...bleeding from his mouth....he was bleeding from...no!

....she realized what they'd done to him...what they took from him....it broke her heart.....

She was awake!

Seeing Snoke's throne empty....she knew he had thought she could not break free of his sleep spell....she collected herself...she had been abused...beaten...stripped to little covering her....but they had not violated her, they had hurt him so much more....

Snoke must of needed her less damaged....

hmmmmm.....

...pulling against her chains with her aching muscles.....she grunted....frustrated....she wanted to go to Ben !...

...then she felt him..."Luke!"


	76. A taste of freedom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke had gotten onto the Finalizer easier than he thought..he cloaked the small ship....he used his powers to hide in the shadows as he crept through the corridors trying to sense Rey or Ben....he finally felt a small tug...following slowly keeping his mind watchful for Snoke's presence....he foynd the throne room....it was dark but he felt them close....lingering death ....the cruelty committed in this room...it overwhelmed him....

He went to Ben, kneeling....he was still alive....he looked battered....his leg was broken...atrocities had been done to him....

Luke felt guilty....he wished he'd gotten there sooner...he waved his hand... the chains fell with a clank....then he went to Rey....she was yelling to him....she was hurt...but not like his nephew....

"Rey,...I'm so sorry....Finn couldn't stop Ben...I think Snoke attacked him through his dreams.....made him bring you here...I felt Ben's love for you....I don't think he would have intentionally endangered you...he was still so vulnerable to that creature..."

He waved his hand releasing her from her chains....he removed his outter robe and wrapped it around her gently.

"I was trapped in a deep force sleep....Snoke was taking power from me ...I felt it... I couldn't wake myself....I could smell the death around me...I heard Ben screaming in agony as they....they did horrible things to him Luke...I was helpless... I couldn't save him while I was trapped...will he be...ok?"

Luke frowned, "I don't know Rey, I...hope so..."

"I think Snoke killed the Knights of Ren... I think I felt him absorb their power..." Rey wasn't sure but she thinks that's what she felt....,"can we help Ben? ...can we heal him?"

She looked over at him laying there so defeated....a tear ran down her cheek...he was still the most beautiful thing she'd even seen...what they'd done would not change ...how she felt for him....she would make sure he knew....

They knelt beside him, turned him over....Rey couldn't help blushing at his nakedness...

Luke guided her to place her hands over his heart....she closed her eyes....calling her power in the force....

...she called to the force spirits....

...they filled her....

...both sides...

She glowed with light and dark power....it radiated....

Luke was amazed himself...

She felt herself reaching inside Ben....pulling together his broken bones...sealing the skin....his body vibrated....his skin began to glow with her power...his body changed...no signs of trauma remained....outwardly...his breath quickened...she held his hand....and bent to him....gently pressing her lips to his... willing him to wake up....

His eyes fluttered open....he cupped her cheek...kissing her deeply back...she moaned into his mouth so happy...

He responded.... "thankyou Rey, ....I am so sorry....I couldn't fight him....I am still so weak....you deserve more..."

She kissed him again...

Luke just smiled...

"...can I get some clothes though?" Rey chuckled...


	77. Unexpected allies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke left them to try to find clothes for Ben....they had to get out of there....Snoke was too strong still....they weren't ready to face him this way...he rounded a corner running into Ria....his hand immediately went to his lightsaber....she knelt at his feet "I'm not going to fight you Luke...I was headed to help them...." he wasn't sure of her....then he noticed she had a bundle of clothes in her arms....two sets....he sensed nothing but regret....no malicious intent...he motioned for her to rise...and they went back to the throne room...

When Luke walked in with Ria, Rey and Ben felt it...nodding as if there was an unspoken understanding between them all....she handed the clothes to them both....quickly they dressed....

"we are not ready Rey...we need to leave...we will face him soon...."

She let Luke guide them out...back to his ship...He was shielding them as much as he could...but Snoke would feel Rey leave... he was sure of it....

Ben agreed Ria would go with them...he was not pleased with it though....there would be a reckoning between he and his former second....

Rey held his hand sending calm into him...as they escaped he felt a pang of anticipation....the war was upon them...the true war...for all their souls....but he had her....his angel...his saving healing light....he had faith in her...

Ria told Rey she had kept Poe alive....and sent him away to a transport earlier that night, they set to where she knew it was headed...they would find him first them head back to get Finn and the others....then decide what was next....

...the darkness was coming...

...all of them felt it when Snoke discovered them gone.... through Ben and Ria...

Rey stopped his mental onslaught before they passed out from the pain...she would end him....she would figure this out....


	78. Reunions are hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The transport ride had been rough, Poe knew he had to leave....he knew he needed to get to Luke and Finn...tell them about Rey and Ben so they could help but he hated leaving Ria behind...Snoke was probably going to kill her next .....and well...he didn't want that...whether she deserved it or not....

He was trying to find a ship to steal when he saw them....the three of them!

He didn't have words.... relief... joy... confusion... he ran...

"Rey!" His arms flew around her...

"Ria said that he...that Ben...I was coming to find Luke for help!" When his eyes fell on Ria, he went to her...holding her to him...kissing her forehead..."I'm so glad you are here!"

She let him hold her...she looked so harmless wrapped up by his form...

Ben and Rey watched them....a bit confused themselves.... thinking... wasn't he recently her prisoner?... didn't she torture him?

....he answered their staring..." yeah, I know...there's questions...but Ben is a darksider who did terrible things to you and most of the galaxy too.... and Rey I know you forgive him...he found a place in your heart.. you love him...we've all seen it...well I didn't ask for this but I want her...I feel something for her...knowing full well what she is...what she's done to me...to others....but she's here now...she left her master..."

Rey understood... Ben wasn't thrilled by her presence but seeing Poe with her being affectionate...her folding into his embrace like lovers...made him pity her...his anger melted a bit....he would not speak to her right now....he would give the pilot time

...........Luke seemed out of place.

...Ben wondered if his old teacher had ever loved or desired anyone.... maybe when he was young?

"Yes nephew, I did once....love someone... want someone...but it was not to be....now let's get back on our ship and collect the others...I have an idea where to hide...Snoke is not going to be too thrilled when he wakes to find his general having abandoned him...his prized meals gone...and his devoted new apprentice defected from him for love...he thought he had everything in place...that creature despises being wrong..." the old Jedi laughed at that.

Ria probably would have been rewarded had she turned over Luke to her master instead of helping all 3 escape...now she was walking around with a death sentence on her head as well...he still had no idea what to do but he hoped the temple would have answers.... and be a safe place for a little while....he knew Snoke needed Rey to be pure... untainted....that he hadn't immediately drained her and Ben....but all the others...he had been sucking dry of their power...the energy...as they flew back to the crumbled base....he found a quiet corner to meditate...

"well son, you got them out..." Luke opened his eyes to see Anakin....

"hello father...."


	79. Marking your heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey had left her light mark inside Ben on her beach so long ago...when she healed him...putting a piece of her inside of his heart with her blazing light force energy...he hadn't figured out how to do the same yet....he needed to put his dark force energy mark within her heart as well to close the loop so they would be strong enough to defeat Snoke....until they could he would still be able to drain either of them...both of them....noone could stop him after that....he couldn't heal her the same way....and they were not ready to physically connect...Luke tried helping them meditate together...they had already mastered using eachother's powers...going back and forth between eachother's minds....she could use their bond to heal him....it didn't matter how far away he was....they could communicate from anywhere...they admitted their feelings but now they were trying desperately to avoid discussing it....

"I can tell it hasn't worked....I feel her in me...I always have..... but I'm not in her still..." Ben was frustrated....he couldn't go through more of what he'd endured...they had to figure this out....ever since they arrived at the old run down jedi temple with the few remaining resistance members and Ria...

Ben flinched anytime anyone tried to touch him....he had barely slept...nightmares were plaguing him...everytime he closed his eyes he felt Oro behind him....his knights laughing....holding him in place...the lightning kissing his whole body.... his flesh being torn...hearing Snoke's laugter as he screamed.....

He would scream and wake drenched in sweat ...his eyes red and filled with tears of loss... he knew Rey wanted to take his pain away...the memories....but he wouldn't let her.....he needed the clarity...

He felt he'd deserved the torture for all the evil he had commited....when he had been the monster...the evil he'd allowed to happen.... standing by watching the atrocities was just as bad....he saw the same guilt written on Ria....she finally felt it...and the regret, he had been so angry with her....for betraying him....for not letting Snoke poison them further....in the end he didn't kill her...he saw himself in her eyes....whatever had shifted within her made sense to him....especially as he watched her snuggled up with Poe.

Poe's' rebel friends were not responding well to her presence...no big surprise....but Poe remained by her side like Rey had been to Kylo/Ben...they camped together, ate together, slept together...he stroked her face when she cried....they would disappear for hours sometimes....returned with flushed faces and rumpled clothes...the pilot seemed devoted....it was crazy...but it had seemed crazy for Rey to care for him too...

"what do we need to do uncle? How do I mark her?"

Luke had talked to Anakin on their way to get Finn and the others..."we will figure this out Ben...I promise...," his father was the one who guided them to this ancient place of power....one of the sith lords had told Luke Ben had to freely give the mark...that he was holding back...that they could all feel it..his fear of tainting Rey with his darkness....they continued trying multiple meditation methods, turned to combat next...maybe trauma would activate the mark when they fought...it hadn't worked....

He made his way as far away from camp as he could....this place hummed with power....light and dark....despite the temple being of jedi origin....there was areas that felt dark....he sat at the edge of a beautiful waterfall....his feet dangling...the drop was so far below... the sound of the rushing water so peaceful...he laid back against the stone closing his eyes....

Suddenly he wasn't alone...

He felt someone on top of him...his whole body tensed..... holding him down against his shoulders with their palms....he opened his dark eyes....

Rey stared down at him... smiling... he felt her mark within him pulsing with affection and serenity...

When he tried to move from her she denied him...leaning down she kissed his pouting lips softly then harder...willing him to let her in...

He did finally....deepening their kiss...he felt starved for her....it was amazing...but terrifying....she allowed him to sit up a bit as he wrapped strong arms around her...for a moment she pulled away...

"you won't taint my light Ben, my light didn't change your darkness... the monster within you didn't leave....but I love him...I love the boy I met on my island....I love the son....the jedi...the dark apprentice....the man who broke....the man before me....you have my heart....give me some of yours!"

His body betrayed him...responding like she was life itself....he cried again...laying against her chest...

He felt force energy swirling around them light and dark dancing...

She dipped into his mind....he opened their bond wide for the first time...he sent all his fear into her...she didn't stop him....he poured his hatred....his lust ...the heat between them...their bodies so close....so tight ...his anger...his paranoia.... his pain...o his pain.... his loneliness....she drank it down deep....

...pouring her own love...trust... peace...understanding...pity.... compassion into him....

...he found her mouth and took her lips...their tongues dancing....she felt how lost he'd felt without her...how hurt he'd been when she'd trapped him in his own mind before....she felt his agony when his physical purity had been ripped into and destroyed by Oro and his knights....she saw Snoke's torture and training of him all those years when the cruel being had tried to snuff out the light she'd left inside him...they moaned into eachother...

His hunger for them to join was overwhelming her senses...images in his mind of their bodies drenched in sweat....hands exploring every inch....teeth and nails...bitng into her shoulder....bending...his hand around her neck... thrusting into her... her body throbbed in reaction to so many images being pushed into her head at once..

She felt her wetness ....his hardness against her....

The power rippled and surged out from their passion....she broke away from him gasping...he wanted her so much...

possession...

protective....

wanting to consume....

...but in this bare raw moment....if she was honest...she wanted him too....

It was electrifying...addicting...to let go...get lost within him....him lost within her.....to simply forget about this war...everyone else and let him devour her...rip her clothes off and thrust into her right here in this blinding want....

Then they both felt it....his darkness making a home in her heart...just a piece...her light within him and now his darkness within her sung.....they collapsed to the ground...losing their balance rolling off the edge he'd been perched...falling toward the base of the waterfall...into the deep swell below....

Snoke felt it....he was raged...they'd done it...his pitiful excuse for an apprentice had marked her...but he knew too she was still pure...that little petulant darkling hadn't claimed her yet...he wasn't surprised...he had never been able to trick Kylo into violating any female that had been thrown at his feet...

....they hadn't completely ruined his plans....he had been beyond outraged to find them gone....that his general had defected...he would rip his head off soon, ...that even Ria had left him...but he could still be triumphant....he sucked down the last bit of power from the man in his grasp, licking his rotten lips... letting the body fall to the floor with a crunch....

His dungeons were almost empty, the Knights had done well hunting throughout the galaxy to feed their master...they had been quite the meal themselves...their dark energy had been sublime after their fun with Kylo and Rey...

Ria ...had disapppinted him....she had enjoyed the taste he'd given her of Rey's force energy....and then fled after he inhaled the knights....

She was supposed to assist him when he ended Solo ....eating death....and took Rey for his own...absorbing the key to his immunity...her light of life...he needed both to cure his rotting corpse ...to make him live forever...to open the veil and devour all the force spirits....to have all force energy taken into him....to cotrol everything everyone...his second apprentice had been a coward...yes he was planning to eat her as well later but it was inconvenient.....

He sat back on his throne....

" bring me a female this time.. I'm famished." He called to a terrified trooper...


	80. sacrifices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Han was still reeling from losing Leia...she had been through so much... and they finally had their son back...Luke had taken Rey and Ben to train....now he wishes he had stopped her from leaving...or gone with his ex-wife to get supplies... maybe they'd at least have died together...so many things had not been said between them....and now he still had so much to say to his son....

Ben had successfully avoided his father... he didn't want to face him....they both felt like they let Leia down....neither were there to stop them when she'd been taken...when they'd killed her....both had gaping holes in their hearts....both men were extremely stubborn...

"Ben...." Ben heard a faint voice in the dark....his episode with Rey earlier had exhausted them both....now he lay alone trying to rest....

"Ben...." he heard it again....it sounded like....

"mother?...."he sat straight up glanced around his surroundings...

"hello my sweet boy, ...sorry this hasn't happened sooner but I was quite dead and old Snoke tried to eat my force energy..." her blue shimmer lit up his area...she smiled happily at him."I'm so glad you and Rey got it to finally work...that creepy bastard needs to die."

He blinked....never thinking he would see her again...not after what they'd been told about what Snoke had been doing....they didn't think she had made it into the force veil...

"mother...," his tears wouldn't be stopped now....his joy..."I'm so sorry."

She nodded, patted his face, "it's ok, I need you to tell my brother and your father it couldn't have been stopped...it wasn't their fault ...or yours...it was the will of the force...my father and mother welcomed me...as did so many others...I'm at peace....and I love all of you so much...you were all forgiven long ago....I held no anger in my heart when I died..."

"we were told he ate your force energy..."

"he did son, most of it....but my mark was safe within your father's heart....Snoke has no idea of that....he doesn't see past certain things...love is so beyond him and the protection it provides....your father has always had my mark...despite the divorce... despite him being just human....no force powers...it saved me...." she looked proud...."your father won't feel or see me, not until his death... because of the mark we will be together again someday....but for now please tell him all I've said....and Ben ....trust her.. remain open to her and her love....Rey is so special....she is the key....you are the lock....the force entrusted you both with such potential power...beyond light and dark...I know you do not fear death my son....you have literally been DEATH....but don't fear life....living is a precious gift....she is your gift....you are hers."

She hugged him tight, telling him again to go to Han....making him promise....then she was gone....she had given him so much to think about....but he knew she didn't blame him....he knew she forgave him....he knew without a doubt she loved him....his fragile heart swelled.....he got up ....grabbed a tank to throw on and searched out his father...

Han sat outside the temple, just listening to the night, missing her....he knew he had to grow a pair of balls soon and try to talk to his son....he just wasn't sure how...he knew how to run away....that's what he was good at...he was a coward when it came to really facing problems....especially emotional ones...he still had a lot to answer for with Ben....

"Dad, we need to talk!" Ben startled him..."mom came to me....she made it to the veil....she said it wasn't any of our faults... .that she doesn't blame us...she loves us...to tell you...you saved her force spirit from being lost.....you kept part of her safe in your heart....so when Snoke had her killed....when he ate her energy...we didn't lose her!"

Han stared at him....he was so relieved...he never pretended to understand all the force crap... but he understands this....she was safe....the woman he loved didn't hate him beyond the grave... and his son was talking to him! Without thinking, he hugged Ben....and miraculously he let him....

"Ben my boy, we have alot to discuss... but first let's go find Luke and Rey!"

Ben was not sure about letting Han be so close... but remembering his mother's words...he didn't pull away from his father...and when they separated he just nodded and followed him back inside the temple to find his uncle....and the beautiful woman who was protecting his mark...he smiled to himself...love...hmmmm....this was all so surreal.....


	81. Blinding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo Ren was always torn, his darkness drawn to the light, he felt compassion despite all Snoke got him to do kill it. His flicker of light wouldn't die....because Rey had left a piece of her light in his heart to protect him without even meaning to on the beach the day .....an innocent child chose to heal a dark prince...the Supreme Leader had miscalculated....

Ben watched his angel swim...these dreams had become more frequent....

She stepped out of the ocean and sat on the spread out blanket beside him smiling...this was her beach...her island....but how.....a little boy plopped in his lap....he was surprised...this was new....

"daddy come on, you promised to swim with me and mommy! " the little one had his mommy's green and gold eyes and Ben's thick raven hair, he grabbed at his daddy's hand climbing off and started trying drag him....

Rey chuckled....she leaned up as they passed her giving the boy and a shocked Ben a kiss on their cheeks. "Be patient with daddy Gavin, I'll come too!"

Her light and the boy's light force energy were warming him to the core, it was almost blinding....he still was in disbelief that his dream was so happy and peaceful...his mind was usually a terrifying place...

"Ben...come on ...come splash like a fish with your wife and son!"

Wife?

Son?

He smiled...and followed...realizing he wore just shorts...they spent a long time laughing and playing... then laid together on the blanket in a shady spot to to nap...the boy looked to be maybe 5/6, the same age Rey was when they'd met, on her hand was an ornate band of silver and gold, jeweled but it also had a touch of kyber crystal in the center...from his old saber.

....curious he thought...

Looking down to these two beautiful beings laying against him he cried....he wanted this... love...family...he closed his eyes....

He woke at the old temple...jumping up, he headed to find Luke ....they were to attack Snoke again soon...but he needed to do something first... stopping he smashed his red saber on a large temple stone, gathered the pieces and when he found his uncle...he asked his advice....about how best to ask .....


	82. May I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo Ren probably never would have married for love, ...but Ben Solo...he might have...Rey had always had his heart....it was a more innocent fascination when they were young...now it was full blown lust and desire...peace and comfort...and love...limitless compassion for someone he felt must be love....the willingness to die for them....to want their happiness above your own...even if it isn't with you....he knew she cared for Finn...so if she didn't want him in that way...truly...he wanted her to be happy with someone...he just knew he wouldn't want anyone but Rey....but that dream was a possible future....so maybe....

He understood hate....anger... fear...he didn't comprehend love....the depths....

But now he knew his mother had truly loved him despite all he'd done... how horrific he treated the galaxy...her...he wished he could tell her what he was about to do...

"dad, Luke....I want to ask Rey to marry me...I want her to be my wife...I want you to marry us before we go after Snoke...in this holy place...well...if she'll have me...dad I want you to be my best man as well..." his words left these two men...his remaining family...two people he may have tried to kill ....speechless....

Luke spoke first smiling..."I would be honored Nephew...I feel her mark within you...it's blaring...I don't think you have anything to worry about...it seems like it is fated...but yes I definitely will...the old rules don't really apply anymore...I think you should combine a Sith wedding ceremony with a traditional one..." the ring you've managed is beautiful how...?"

Han proudly grinned, " I helped with that, it is made from mine and Leia's rings, I still had them...and Ben shattered his Sith Saber...added a small piece if his kyber crystal to it...and yes son I will stand up with you if she accepts. I'm sure your mother is watching over you delighted.. "

Ben looked very pleased....he couldn't wait to find Rey.... Rey felt joy emanating from Ben...his light pulsed...outshining his darkness....he found her by that same waterfall...

"Ben are you ok?"

"More than ok Rey, I feel sure about everything and nothing but that I can handle...and when we go after Snoke this final time...I want no regrets on my life..I already have so much to atone for.... I want you to be my wife...I want Luke to marry us tomorrow...you have every part of me...I want you happy...but if you want someone else in that way...or don't want this I won't be angry...I'll accept it."

He knelt at her feet and held the ring he'd made, " this is all of me...my sith kyber, my mother's wedding ring combined with my father's ring...light and dark within me..."

She stared at him then ...smiled so sweetly..."you have my love...my light...my heart...I would be so happy to be your wife Ben Solo....I accept all of you...Kylo Ren will always be part of you too...I love him too."

She let him slide the ring on her finger....then they ran to tell everyone....Finn...Hux and Leona...Han...Luke...Poe...Ria...all were actually encouraging and seemed happy for them...


	83. Til I die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Family, rejection, ...Snoke, pain,....Rey, acceptance, hope,....

Poe couldn't wrap his head around how things had changed....

He had been fighting an enemy...the First Order...shooting Hux and Kylo Ren's fighters and troopers...he knew who to hate ...he knew who was the good guys....

Leia died....

Ria turned his head on end....

Rey and Finn meant a lot to him.... he tolerated now Ben and Hux being around....

Finn seemed good now with these new defectors....nobody ever seemed at ease around Ria....

Hux had married Leona, and Leona let Rey barrow a simple cream dress for her big day.

Luke performed a combination of a regular ceremony with sith aspects...

Ben wore tan slacks and a navy button up shirt...

Han seemed proud to stand up for his son...

When they pledged their hearts, souls, minds, bodies to one another they smiled, when they sliced their palms with the knife for their blood bond light glowed around them healing it...leaving a smooth scar....their force energy thrummed in constant waves during the whole ceremony...when their lips touched at the end...it flashed so bright...

Everyone around them felt a pulse of happiness within them... a meager meal was shared, and they danced....content...trying not to think of the battle coming...they could feel the marks inside eachother....they felt safe....

"it was beautiful Ben..."Leia appeared and looked so happy, "you are both stronger together, he won't expect this, after tonight you will have given your entire self to someone my son, it will not always be bliss but real love isn't...it's raw and you won't always agree...you can be every flaw and truly human."

Ben hugged her and was relieved...for once in his tormented life his insides didn't feel torn in half...he felt peace as he danced with his wife, looking around at this odd group that had found it's way together....

* * *

 

The candles were flickering softly, the little alcove they'd made their own with blankets and pillows looked sweet... everyone was off to bed in their areas for the night... tomorrow they were headed to hunt down Snoke, but tonight everyone needed silent calm....

He laid her down gently...kissing her eyes, her cheeks, her forehead...he didn't deserve something so pure.... so precious....he opened his mind to her and hers to him through their bond...feeling the marks they'd put inside eachother come to life.

He stroked her hair as he moved to graze her neck with his lips then flicking his tongue...playfully making her squirm....she placed both her small hands on his cheeks pulling him to look at her in the eyes...

"he didn't destroy all of you Ben, you have been many things.... frightening...cruel...compassionate..gentle...you are still all those things...but now you are someone new...now you are not just the boy, the jedi in training, the dark apprentice, the master of Ren, the lost son, the murderer, the victim, the predator, ...you are mine....my husband...my heart...you are dark and I am light....and we are now a part of eachother through the force, through title,....but also through choice....I love you!"

Tears fell happily, he couldn't contain himself, "truly,.... Rey,...if we die, I will die at peace....I feel complete with you....I wish we could just stay..." he helped her remove the light dress slowly.

She helped him remove all of his clothes too, there wasn't a need to rush... and they were glad of it....in the shadowy light they healed eachother...any uncertainty.... loneliness.....fear....shame... was shed....

Their hands ran over warm skin....fingers tracing scars....he kissed the new scar on her palm....his nose nuzzled up and down the curls of her chest and stomach, his fingers trailing behind the path of his lips...

He explored her... every inch...head to toe rubbing and kissing and licking and nipping.

Her hands doing the same as she could... there was so much power swirling around them but they were lost in the dance of this fabulous place....of sensation....of want... starving for more...when his fingers entered her she quivered....it wasn't long before her body shuddered with release.

He devoured her mouth as his fingers worked...his thumb devoted now to her little nub of nerves before he settled between her legs to thrust in himself home....she felt a spark of pain briefly then just his rhythm...gentle then more manic...more urgent...harder and faster...holding her neck firm he felt her convulse again with a moan...her legs wrapped so tight around his back guiding...

Their minds helping them serve eachother....it was a sacrifice laid bare... nothing and everything.... blinding light surrounding thick darkness a tango of life and death...

she felt the veil....

he felt it too...

more power surged into them....

they felt like breath stopped for a moment.....

He flipped them over still holding her neck tight, her thighs locked as she rode him....they climaxed together like fire....burning hot.....he growled as she screamed his name....

colapsing....

she fell into a deep sleep....he fell with her....both clinging like one would disappear...they were one....they were oathed by blood....they made promises through their vows....

each had placed a mark in the other's heart....

their force energies had joined within the bond...

their bodies had given in completely....

who or what could hurt them now....in this prism of beauty.... forgiveness....of selflessness...

* * *

 

Ria felt the surge...she knew Rey and Ben had joined....purity tainted...Snoke would be pissed.....she looked down at Poe laying across her breast asleep as she petted his scratched back...the battle was coming but she she didn't regret leaving....for being here...for letting this man have her....

She silently begged the universe for hope....for a future for all these lost souls....for once she really wanted one....and not just for herself.


	84. Through the heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tears streaming down her cheeks she looked at him with disbelief....he plunged her saber through her heart so fast noone could react...he cut down several who tried to come to give aid...Luke was too late...he'd felt the shift and came running....Kylo loomed over her bloody body...his eyes black and hollow...her blood mingling with Hux and Finn's....Han had barely managed a few blaster shots before his head was removed from his body...Luke tried again and again to disarm him...his nephew appeared possessed...the clash of sabers echoed...then just as suddenly Kylo fell to his knees dropping his weapon...wailing....covered in blood... his own tears hitting the floor beneath...Luke didn't hesitate now....slicing through his back.....he watched the lost soul hit the ground with a depressing thudd...

Ben lurched up screaming.... "Noooooo!!!!.... Rey!!!!!"

...Rey pulled him back down to her waiting arms sighing...petting him....trying to console....he was still shaking...he told her about the nightmare...

"it's ok...I'm ok...I'm still here...it's Snoke trying to punish you for being here I'm sure...evil bastard...but in the morning we will tell Luke..."she kissed his face, cuddled him up tight sending calm into his body....

The marks they had put into eachother worked well, and since they'd also married and joined physically, their power pulsed between them even more...she felt Snoke trying to scrape across Ben's mind...he was trying to bring out Kylo Ren...bring out the monster...

He started breathing softly as she kept caressing his back...her power pushing Snoke out...keeping his disgusting tendrils at bay....she hated him so much....he had ruined so many lives... caused so much death.

They were leaving soon to find the ship he was on now...with Hux gone, the First Order was a bit unorganized...but the Supreme Leader was still sending troops to attack rebelling planets...he was still using to fleet to his own purpose...

Intel was Hux had been kidnapped and killed by resistance terrorists, that Kylo Ren was hunting for him...apparently he didn't want the whole galaxy to know his top two men were defectors...that all this pointless death was for nothing but his hunger for power...

She loved this man...and she would protect him and this family they'd made...an odd mix to be sure but a family none the less...closing her eyes she sought guidance.

She saw past the room...beyond the planet...she felt Snoke's anger....he was livid with her blocking him...he wanted their force power...she watched him drain another prisoner....it broke her heart....her force sight had increased to reaching anywhere she wanted now... but she couldn't stop him as a trooper brought him more prisoners....it saddened her.

She knew where he was now though...she would make him suffer...if there were any prisoners left...she wanted to save them... the veil fluctuated...

Anakin told her Snoke absorbing so much power kept weakening the walls of the sacred realm....but as long as he couldn't inhale her and Ben he wouldn't be able to get in... they were the lock and key he needed...but with her tainted by their physical joining...their marks of darkness in her...and light in him...he couldn't use them unless one turned on the other...gave in to him....

Rey prayed to the force for strength...hers and his....he was afraid of his weakness to his former master...but she knew if she had to she would kill them both...she felt the little flicker in her belly....their love made this and the force was protecting it's force signature....but she hadn't told anyone yet...it was so fast...they were barely married... it was time to battle.... after she would share to great gift...after....


	85. Peace beneath you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His onslaught of nightmares were taking their toll on Kylo Ren's mind....more and more darkness envelopes his light... he sees himself dying in her arms....he sees himself killing her and everyone she has grown to love...he sees himself bowing to his former master again...presenting her saber to him as a gift....he is covered in their blood....he sees Hux dead at his feet....then ....nothing...the agony just stops....replaced by warmth and blinding light...love and acceptance....

Snoke screamed as she slammed his mental door to Kylo shut. "It is not possible!"

"She cannot be stronger than me !"

He felt it when they'd joined...he wanted her pure for the ritual...now she was tainted... he knew when they'd completed their marks within eachother...but he still had a backdoor into his former apprentice in his head....but Rey had found it and now locked him out.

The room vibrated with his fury. His task was already now going to be more difficult....now more so...force energy blackened around him...his dungeons were now empty....he had drained the last few...he needed them to come to him willingly so he could feed on them and use them to feast on the spirits beyond the veil...

Damned girl and her power over the boy...if fate had not intervened and crashed him on her planet years ago he would have never been marked... poisoned to darkness...by her light...been vulnerable to her rather than his master's purpose.

But no matter, now Snoke knew he would have to face them soon. They were coming...they felt stronger but he could still win...he could still take it all...

Ben would die for Rey....the Supreme Leader knew it....he would use that weakness...turn him to bone and ash...eat her heart in front of the ungrateful fool...after killing all their friends...

Hux was hiding with the rebels... coward....he would be gone soon as well...betrayal...

Ria needed to burn for her treachery ...he foamed at the bit to taste all their deaths....

" come....come to my door...come to fall and bleed and suffer under my hand...beneath my feet.!"

He sensed their energy...they would arrive soon....geared for battle... fighting for rhe galaxy...feeling righteous....he was ravenous...yes he felt them come ...coming to their doom...to his victory....


	86. Armed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She stares at him...his mind screaming at her...could they do this...defeat this darkness that wanted to destroy everyone...everything....she felt so small...Ben looked unsure... they were almost there...their cloaked ship was small but thanks to Maz and Hux at least this would give them a slight advantage...Snoke knew they were coming ....but maybe wouldn't notice them arrive..

Ben felt unprepared after his mind had been attacked....Rey had forced his old master out but his strength....it felt drained...he saw her staring...they were both nervous it seemed.

"we can do this Rey....we have eachother... we have to try." He slid over to sit beside her, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deep...

SO this was loving someone...caring beyond yourself.....his heart beat quickened....time was going too fast.... he just wanted to bury his face against her and hide...not very heroic but he wanted more time with her that wasn't fighting.... maybe after...

She petted his face looking in his eyes....pressing her forehead to his she sent into him calmness...he felt better...

Luke was trying to focus on the task at hand...

....and Ria paid them no mind....she was worried about Poe...he would be staying on their little ship waiting for a quick escape if things went bad...so she concentrated on nuzzling his neck....whispering promises...he kissed her hard in response to whatever she had said....

Luke huffed..."you young people and hormones!"

All of them laughed at him.

They saw the big destroyer ahead, Rey had been right...they been able to find him easily....now to get in and stop him....and hopefully survive it....


	87. Hello old friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke approached possibly their demise with a rag tag group he couldn't have predicted...the darkside nephew he had once contemplated killing, an orphan jedi to be of the light, a former Knight of Ren and a resistance pilot who had been tortured by both dark ones,....and him...a failed fallen jedi master who wasn't sure what truly needed to happen...

They worked through the hanger fine, scattered troopers didn't stop them much...

Poe remained as planned...

Rey told him to stay within it's shield until they returned or let him know it was safe....

Rey held Ben's hand worried he'd freeze without the reassurance. He truly was terrified of his old master because of what he'd done to his mind...to his body...how he had poisoned him to anyone good in his life...even Rey....

Ria seemed more confident, she wasn't afraid to die...but she knew she didn't want the sick bastard alive after he killed the rest of the knights...after she'd realized how far gone she's been...she wanted him dead so he couldn't get to Poe....

They had to fight harder the closer they got to the throne room...the evil radiated from there....as they pushed through the large black doors they heard his cruel voice....

He cackled at them like they were nothing....as soon they started slowly approaching he greeted them more formily...."well both my disappointing apprentices, an old jedi, and a child jedi...that's who I get...how delightful, you will all be delicious!"

He licked his rotting lips, " Luke I am surprised Kylo didn't cut you down himself already for trying to kill him when he was a teen...Ria...you should be dead as well for what you did to so many....and Kylo you were given a reprieve for atrocities too I see....and married ...bedded a jedi...how sith of you....like your grandfather...forbidden love... power.... can tempt even the most loyal....but I give you the chance to rectify that decision.... give her to me on your own...I'll devour her power use you to open the veil and I'll share the force energy I absorb from all the jedi and sith ghosts...I'll be immortal all powerful  
...and I won't kill you with the others....my offer won't last long my son..."


	88. Bow down low

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snoke wasn't impressed with his visitors...he didn't seem shaken....with a flick of his knarled hand they all fell to their knees ...then the floor

Ben couldn't see Rey...his eyes were blurred by his old master...his head began to swim....that familiar lost sensation....

"I'm more powerful than Luke would have you believe...as for ghostly teachers they have no idea what I've become!" The old creature laughed...he pulled Ria to him with another movement..."you are first apprentice...I even gave you a taste of her...of his sweet Rey and you still betrayed me...I will take all I gave you back!"

As he lifted her to him her body frozen in the air as the rest were pinned to the floor...he opened his mouth and dark light came from her form ...she shreaked in pain...as her energy was drank down...when she was empty....her eyes slack he finally let her body drop....

"mmmmm definitely a good start...I was famished...my dungeon is empty at present...she deserves this fate....now Luke I believe you owe me....you stole them both when I had them ready before...when Rey was still pure...no matter...come Jedi....come feed me....finally die like your order !"

Luke's body convulsed and flew threw the air like Ria had...but this time wasn't as easy...

Skywalker closed his eyes and pushed back against his psychic grip...."no!"

Falling to the ground he gripped his saber and lunged forward trying to use the element of surprise while he could...but lightning shot into him...the smell of burnt flesh filled the room...

"Luke ! ...no!!!" Yelled Rey....she was desperate to move ....in her mind she was screaming at her body to move....she looked at Ben who appeared unconscious...he was just laying there....

Luke raised his head, "you are pathetic Snoke, and you are empty...void of everything that matters in the force...it wants more...it will avenge the lives you stole...the energy you felt you had rights to..." he stood again and blocked the next onslaught of cruel lightning....

The being reached out and Luke felt his heart tighten in his chest....

Snoke squeezed... harder... tighter.... it was done...the saber was released from the hand gripping it and the body went limp...again he feasted...the force energy this time mostly bright light with a hint of shadow....

"I feel quite sated just from those two...I can't wait to feel what's coming when I eat your energy...and then the contents of the veil...ahhhh...."

Rey had enough...she watched Luke's body fall beside Ria's....she reached out to Ben and pulled to his mark within and her own...trying to free their suspension on the floor...fire brewed deep inside...and out it came directly at the Munn...

His skin sizzled and he jerked back against his throne in shock....she stood shakily but her hand shot out toward him....the air around him twisted almost forming a wall...as she willed it...his guards flew back against the far wall with loud crunches....her other hand behind her shot lightning of her own at the troopers blocking the way out....

"Anakin....yoda...what do I do with him? How do I get him out of Ben's head? How do we kill his form?"

Snoke bombarded her wall but did not dent it...the force ghosts weren't answering her...but Ben collected himself finally....

She sighed with relief...it was short-lived....

Ben turned toward her with yellow eyes....they looked emtpy....he drew a vibro blade to him and moved toward her....

"release my master! Rey ...release him!" She felt her heart ache when he swung at her outstretched arm....


	89. Not my Ben

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His eyes were black...his voice was not the tender one that whispered into her neck after thier wedding....when he swung with the blade It came so close to slicing her....his energy was all wrong...he felt like a stranger....a bad imitation of her Ben...still his beautiful package but rotten inside....she kept dodging ....moving...she didn't want to fight him...this was her friend...her lover...her husband...he was her heart...deep behind the inky blackness she heard the soft thrum...her mark was still within him...Snoke couldn't void that...so maybe...

He just kept coming at her...all the while the Munn just delighted...

"He is still mine scavenger....you thought he was yours...just because you let him between your legs doesn't mean my darkness doesn't still fill him....he cannot push me out of his mind...I've held him too long...since he was very young...I needed him to bring me you.. he's served his purpose!"

Rey tried desperately to think...she began to throw everything she had at Ben...finally he fell....she worried she'd killed him but then she heard a shallow breath....

Snoke looked disbelieving...he flung her against the wall...stepping to stand over the young man..."you are useless now..." he raised his limp body up and began to feed...sucking his dark energy...

"no!!!" She shreaked.

Closing her eyes she reached out into Ben....pulling at her mark within she called within herself to his own mark...power surged....

...the veil unlocked behind her... thousands .....millions upon millions of spirits flooded the space around her....

...her eyes turned pure white...

...her slight form rising...

...lightning purple and red danced along her entire body...

...she threw it at Snoke...

He slammed back against his throne...dropping Ben in a dark crumple...

"you have failed girlllll! You opened the veil! I will drink every drop...every spirit will be devoured!..."

Snoke poured power at her trying pull her bones apart within her...she felt them breaking...but as he broke and pulled the tendons aparts she put them back...repairing as quickly as he tore...

"impossible!" He fired at her...

Then flinging fire into her ...surrounding her in a ball...she created rain to douse it....she didn't appear to have any burns...she spun left and yanked a wall at him...the room shook...he blocked the assault with another annoyed flick...

Raising her hands she felt out for his energy...started stabbing at it with hers...he stumbled with the drain....

...she kept slamming him...

...she drew power from their bond...

...their marks....

...the lock... 

...the key...

...it was all part of this building mass inside and yet outside of her...the galaxy fed it...everyone within the veil fed it...she began to glow brighter ....

...brighter...like sun approaching supernova...

"YOU CANNOT HAVE HIM !" She growled.

He screamed, her light was burning into him...she froze him there...his limbs fell off...his eyes melted...blood seeped from his ears...mouth...she squeezed her right hand....his heart burst....his tongue lolled...his body drooped... she kept firing her mixture of pulsing power and lightening until his body was truly gone...

Lowering ...she raced over to Ben...she bent down and kissed some of her force energy into him....healing the damage his former master inflicted ...helping his chest move to breathe...stitching together the openings...making his heart pump....he mumbled...wincing in pain....his eyes back to their amber beauty....she saw the spirits retreat ...

"thankyou Rey, " Anakin winked at her....she turned back to Ben....


	90. Loss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She held his head in her lap, stroking his hair, they'd lost so many and yet Rey still had him.

She tugged and pulled Ben back to the ship, Poe knew without asking where Luke and Ria were...if they weren't climbing aboard as well they had fallen.

"Poe get us out of here!"

He silently followed her order, only when they arrived back and were greeted by Finn and Hux did any of the 3 speak.

Hux looked up at Rey, seeing the other two absent, "It's done then?"

He helped Poe move Ben to patch him up. Rey hugged Finn and finally allowed herself to cry...her heart ached with loss, the finality of feeling how many were gone. But they'd stopped Snoke from devouring the veil, the force spirits of the jedi and sith were spared.

Poe joined them circling his arms around them both.

Leona tended to Ben, "you healed him mostly Rey, now he just needs rest and time. We all do now that we can."

"It's so strange not to be afraid. I mean we still don't know if someone bad will step in and take over the First Order and what's left of them is disorganized and confused at the moment. Time to regroup and begin our lives."

Rey took a deep breath, life was about to get a lot less complicated. She hoped it was anyway. She wanted to wake up tomorrow clean, in her husband's arms and happy. It was odd, they all had to decide where to go....they couldn't just hide here.

* * *

They sat enjoying the sunrise, their new home was quiet, peaceful.

Ben was glad not to be in charge of anyone but himself.

Hux had returned to pick up the pieces of the order, he and Leona worked with Poe to make the needed changes, but everyone wanted guidance....a direction not led by fear or cruelty.

Rey wanted nothing to do with it, she wanted a life with just Ben.

Finn was helping collect the information to make new rules. Politics weren't quick and easy without a dictatorship, he kept them updated with progress, they agreed Leia would be proud.

"It's so beautiful here, but when you're ready Ben I want us to keep moving, I want to see everywhere we can."

He grinned, "of course, as long as we are together, you saved me from myself...I would follow you anywhere." He kissed her softly.

"The force is quiet right now, it wouldn't stay that way, the darkness will rise again in a different form. Who will be the next champion? "

She understood, the galaxy wasn't willing to remain at peace, eventually power hungry somebodys would step on the little people to get ahead. All her power wouldn't prevent that, neither would Ben's...their children either. All they could do was live and love each other, and hope.


	91. Waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ("At night you picture an ocean,...I see it...I see the island") That moment in the the interrogation room seemed like a lifetime ago, Rey remembered when Ben crashed on her beach. "I want to find my home, I want to raise our children there." She told him, relieved when he agreed so easily. He brought her close, "we will have to use our energy together to search for that planet." ******* They stood facing the waves, their son clinging to Ben's thigh, their daughter in Rey's arms. He smiled down at her, "your mother would be happy we brought them here. "

"Who knew you could be so kind Hux, saving the galaxy....running around stopping injustice. " Ben still relished mocking the former general.

Hux laughed, "sometimes I miss Kylo Ren...he I could just hate and you I have to tolerate. But things are better than I deserve, this place is beautiful. You look satisfied and almost serene playing house, no more the rampaging psychopath flattening the universe. She is a vision Ben, your children are adorable. My son follows your daughter around like a slave though, taking her little orders." Both men laughed. They were enjoying a picnic on the sand watching their wives and children splash and play in the ocean. 

"You are welcome anytime old man, Rey loves to visit with Leona, and Aria apparently thrives on bossing your Jacob. Who knows, we could be in-laws someday."

Hux laughs,"what a terrible thought!"

Ben lets his eyes linger over Rey's form, "even now I can't believe she saved me, reached in and claimed that broken dark fool that was running toward Snoke for power and answers. On this beach she gifted me with her smile, and all these years later I go to sleep every night in her warm arms. It's surreal. My close friends include my former rival, an ex-trooper, and the pilot who tried to kill me. This life is far more than I deserve, but I love her and the precious days I share with her and our children."

"My friend I concur, though now thinking back I regret not trying to kill Snoke sooner. We are still adjusting, some prefer war to peace, but I hope it lasts a while. The New Galactic Resolve is holding, most systems are enjoying the benefits. Finn is a natural, Poe seems to thrive leading, I am ready to let others take over. Jacob needs a set home, all we do is travel right now." Hux rose up, "time to play, I find myself more relaxed in my own skin these days, who knew I'd be so thankful for an orphan scavenger and a lost almost sith falling in love. You need to come too Solo, your wife is giving you that look...she may force pull you to the water soon if you don't get up."

Chuckling loudly, "I believe you are correct general, let's go, I think we can take on the lot of that little army!" Ben winked playfully before running across the sand and jumping in.

The sounds of his daughter's giggles, his son's glowing grin made him thankful again, but it was Rey greeting his entrance with a kiss as he stood up that tipped him.

The force whirled within them, their marks radiating, "I believe you required my attendance my goddess, I think I can now and always. You are my heart, they are my soul, I will always be here."

Rey kissed him passionately then shoved him back in the water, laughing as his kids attacked trying to tickle him..."not so tough at their hands are you ! "

Hux and Leona looked quite amused.

Ben half chuckled out, "not at all! I am at your mercy !"


	92. Sweet dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey held him tight, they laid peacefully under the stars on a large soft blanket and wrapped up in another blanket. He stroked her back happily.

"You are not a monster anymore Ben, you are a father and mine. You have grown so much, I'm so proud of you." She kissed him.

He took it as an invitation.

They made love on the beach, their life was really special. To have survived the pain, the death, the war. She had saved him from Snoke and himself, and he had saved her back....like a fucked up fairytale.

The kids were contently dreaming, and their friends wouldn't be back for another visit for a while.

Rey felt exhausted, but in a good way. She nuzzled his neck "I guess we have to succumb to sleep soon."

Ben smiled, "nah, we are still young....we can sleep when we're dead...come here wife...show me how alive you are! I'm about ready for another round !"

She laughed when he tickled her, "you are insufferable Solo! I swear if it was up to you We'd accomplish nothing but sex !"

He answered by kissing he, " yes, that's sounds perfect, but we may have to eat and shower sometimes."

"You are such a rotten brat!" She poked him hard in the chest. "But I love you. "

"I adore and love you Rey."


	93. Bells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The waves crashed, the sky was blue and clear, there was a slight perfect breeze. Rey had asked the planet for pleasant weather...it obliged. The planet has loved them making a life here, watching their powerful children grow.

Hux and Leona sat drinking with Rey and Ben. 

"To our joint familes, we joked about this years ago...who knew it was a true prediction." Hux laughed. He patted his wife's  hand. 

Their glasses clinked.

Gavin was chasing his lizard-like pet around. 

Aria and Jacob gazed happily at the horizon, the ceremony had been simple like both of their parents weddings.  Their joined hands were a beautiful  sight.

"I love you Jacob, thankyou for doing this here.  It means alot to my mom. I feel like both my grandmother's were able to watch as well." Aria smiled sweetly.

Jacob brought her palm to his lips, "I  could never do anything  but love you Aria. You've  owned my heart since we were small...why do you think I let you boss me around so much. I'm glad it was here too. This place was a home for rebirth and hope for us all."

She flushed, "I  hope our child likes it as much as us..."

He looked at her so hopeful, "really? Oh Aria ! I'm  a father  !" He scooped her up spinning her around.

Hux laughed,  "aren't  they cute Ben, wonder what's  gotten into my son over there?"

Rey smiled taking a sip of her drink.

Ben grinned, "well, Armitage I suppose our daughter just informed her husband you and I  are going to be grandparents.  "

"What? Oh,...that's delightful ! Lord, I  never thought I'd  live long enough to receive such joyous news. Ha! And to share this with you Ren...I'm sorry... Ben. Old habits...it's wonderful." Hux looked pleased. Leona was so happy.

Rey beamed, " they have a whole future ahead of them, we gave them this. I am glad. Poe knows, but he couldn't  get here in time, he and Finn have gotten quite close themselves. Everyone seems happy these days."

As the two young lovebirds made their smiley approach Ben reminded, "act surprised...they don't realize we know."

Aria and Jacob announced,                 "thankyou for celebrating with us today as we pledged our hearts and lives to eachother... but we have one more bit of happy news... we are expecting !"

Everyone hugged and congratulated.

"Dad, I hope you don't  mind but Jacob and I  want to call her Leia, ...I already feel it's  girl." Aria asked softly.

Ben hugged her tight, "I would love that sweetheart, you are going to be an amazing mother... just like your mom... like mine. I love you both. Jacob, you were already family  to us...now it's  official."

Hux and Leona  hugged them again, "we can't  wait to spoil  her !" Said Leona.

Rey kissed her daughter's belly, "hello little one... we all can't  wait to show you how loved you are !"

Rey felt a small jolt, "honey is she...?"

"Yes, momma, little Leia is force sensitive... just a bundle of cells but already talking to me." Aria stated proudly.

They all took their place at the beautiful dinner table. "To the future !" Toasted Hux.

"To the happy couple !" Added Ben.


End file.
